The Crows
by Old Sam's Artisanal Fic
Summary: It was supposed to be a relaxing trip to the northern pirate kingdom of Myrtle. But after a bloody coup Elsa and Anna find themselves on a long trek home surrounded by hostile soldiers through beautiful, dangerous mountains, led by a beautiful, dangerous guide who is far more than he/she appears. Magic, fear, femslash (kinda), a gender fluid OC, and ICE MONSTERS. [ElsaxfOC]
1. Chapter 1- On the Road

CHAPTER 1- On the Road

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* * *

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 **Day One, Morning**

 _Conceal it..._

The air grew cold around her, an icy breeze whipping up and stirring the loose locks of her pale hair. Fear jabbed at her heart like a pike, each jolt of emotion unleashing a pulse of uncontrolled magic, scattering out of her body to project winter onto the world around her.

 _No, not fear. Horror._

"Elsa!"

Elsa looked up, squinting through the tears in her eyes. Anna was there, holding out a gloved hand. Hurriedly, she grasped it, drawing strength from her sister, from their bond.

 _Breathe._

The air grew warm again. Offering her younger sister a grateful smile, she swallowed, and looked up again, at the human head which was fixed atop the iron city gate. The head stared back, or seemed to.

The gates of the city of Myrtle were heavy, thick and solid, veterans of old wars. Picked out in dark relief, great crows flew and dove and fed across their weather-beaten surface. Silent and still.

Well, it was official. This was the worst holiday ever.

 _I wish I were home..._

The trip had been problematic from the start. Some of this was her own fault, she supposed.

Queen Elsa struggled with a fear of sailing. She had thought she could control her nerves, but on the voyage from Arendelle is had turned out that she really... _couldn't._

It had only been a brief panic, but enough to almost sink the ship. Elsa winced, remembering the moment when she had lost control. She worked so hard _not_ to give people reasons to distrust her, or be frightened of her, but then, the moment she worked up the confidence to try something new, nonsense like that would happen, and she would let everyone down again.

No one had died, but they had been forced to disembark at a fishing village some way from the city, while the poor captain and crew patched leaks and improvised new... decks...

 _Leaving us stranded here, oh God... breathe..._

And so it was after an additional day's journey by road that their little expedition had arrived at last, on a warm June morning, in the little kingdom of Myrtle, where the royal family had been expecting them.

However, neither Elsa nor the royal family had been expecting the commander of the state's armed forces to stage a coup, declare martial law, and throw much of the court in prison.

Not knowing what had happened she, her sister and her entourage had ridden up to the city, through the ramshackle dusting of huts and small houses which lay outside its high granite walls, passing strangely silent residents who scurried away, or avoided their gaze. A palpable cloud of fear hung over everything. Now having reached the gates, they knew why.

Anna had spotted it first; she had cried aloud, pointing to something above them. Then Elsa had seen it. Perched on top of the entrance to the city, jammed onto a black iron point, was the head of King Rikhard II of Myrtle. The Crow King's eyes were pale, his white beard matted with blood...

Elsa had frozen. Anna had jumped from her horse and grabbed a nearby merchant, screaming at him for answers. _It was Kaarlo_ , he had spluttered, eyes empty with the dazed terror of a trapped rabbit. The military had taken over the palace. Blood in the streets. He had put the king to the sword...

Still shaken, Elsa regarded the head of the unfortunate monarch. They had met maybe two or three times, but had communicated frequently by letter. Rikhard Marttila had seemed like a good man, and a wise king. Myrtle's trading influence had expanded hugely during his reign, as he had patiently coaxed his little kingdom out of its traditional isolationism.

Why would anyone do this?

A clattering commotion behind the gates signalled that their arrival had at last been noticed by the _nouveau régime_. The Arendelle party backed up steadily as the great doors swung out. From within, wall of pikemen marched out in close formation, arraying themselves in a semi-circle of black leather and steel. An honour guard for this Kaarlo. Each wore a neckerchief of crimson cloth.

A herald blew a horn, and announced the arrival of the usurper himself.

"The Lord Protector of Myrtle!"

Admiral Kaarlo Neva, now Lord Protector Kaarlo, apparently, appeared in the gateway astride a coal-coloured stallion barded in navy and crimson. He strutted out in front of them, remaining behind his guard- a red-faced, angry man in a carmine justaucorps matching his cheeks, with dark moustaches which curled like the antennae of a beetle.

Elsa could feel her powers starting to shake free again. Her fingers trembled. Just a thought, a stray impulse, at this moment, would be enough to cause a death, she knew. Or a hundred. For all his bluster, Kaarlo was hiding behind those soldiers- as if it would make a difference. The forum in front of the gate was full of people, and not just soldiers. If she lost her temper, here, now...

 _It must not happen._

 _Conceal. Conceal_.

 _Don't feel._

She looked across at Anna, back on her horse, and also within the blast radius of any loss of control. A memory flashed before her- of still, unseeing eyes gazing out of a blue face.

No. She couldn't risk that.

 _Well then, time to see what the 'Lord Protector' has to say for himself._

Ravens cawed in the summer sky above them.

 _I want to go home._

 _. ._

* * *

. .

 **Day One, Afternoon**

Queen Elsa of Arendelle stopped her snow-white horse, gripping the reins tightly. Shutting her eyes tight, she breathed out hard through her nose. Then she looked down the mountain path behind them, lush green with the summer grass, to the port city of Myrtle. The sun was still setting, glinting on the waters of the harbour, but the streets were already deserted, windows boarded shut. The towering grey obelisk which was the Myrtle royal palace cast a long, black shadow over the houses, the cawing of the ravens in its many rookeries the only sound breaking the tense and fearful silence. Arendelle's northern neighbour was normally a boisterous, joyful place, filled with music and singing and the curse-laden boasts of drunken sailors. Well, so she had heard, at any rate. It was to have been her first visit.

The year which had passed since her coronation had contained a lot of firsts. After thirteen years of struggling with her powers- barely leaving her room, reading every last book in the palace library and _re_ -reading a lot of them- everything had changed, and she was finally free. Relatively speaking- as royalty most of her life was still pretty well planned in advance.

She had learned to ride, for one thing. Once she had grown confident enough in the saddle of her even-tempered little steed, she had taken the time to explore the little farms and hamlets that dotted her kingdom, and let her people meet their queen. Better they see the awkward blonde girl she was, rather than imagine her as the treacherous, ice-crowned demon of some of the wilder tales people had been telling...

Her sister Anna drew up beside her, looking no less agitated than herself. "What do we do, Elsa?" she asked, trembling slightly, and glancing back to the company of soldiers a short distance behind them. What indeed...

That odious Kaarlo had shown little interest in explaining himself, but had declared, without apparent embarrassment, that the state of Myrtle was under lock-down until 'the remaining agents of the treasonous king' had been rooted out, and the 'security of the royal family' could be assured.

Moreover, to ensure their safe, and prompt, return to Arendelle, Kaarlo had insisted they travel with a company of his soldiers. Around twenty men, led by a thick-set old captain with moustaches and mutton-chops, outnumbering her own party two to one.

All in all, it could have gone better.

Elsa also eyed the soldiers, frowning. "Right now, there's nothing we can do. We need to go along with it- for the moment."

"I _know_ ", added Elsa, seeing her sister's pained expression. Anna had not been happy about submitting to Kaarlo's marching orders. As if _she_ was? "But we cannot act without knowing the situation and making a plan, or it will just be an act of war. Once home, we can seek advice, decide what to do."

"But it's ten days' journey through the mountains..." Anna suddenly stopped. "Um, Elsa? Your horse is freezing."

Elsa looked down. Her mare Linnea was visibly shivering. Pale patterns of frost had spread down the reins from her fingers, and the saddle was encrusted with a lacy network of ice. Yelping an embarrassed apology, she focused for a moment on calming herself and containing her powers. The saddle thawed out, and poor Linnea's breath stopped coming in gasps of white vapour. Elsa rubbed the mare's white neck, cooing reassuringly into her ear.

"I'm sorry girl..."

They were interrupted by the approach of the Myrtlean senior officer. He coughed politely through his grey whiskers, and addressed them in the coarse, nautical accent of Myrtle.

"Your Majesty, your Highness. I am Captain Rinne of the City Guard, as was."

Elsa frowned. "As was?"

The gruff old man seemed to hesitate. He seemed agitated at the question. He glanced back at his men- none were within earshot.

"The thing is, your majesties..." He scratched his head under his helmet. "... the Admiral, sorry, _Lord Protector_ , is currently reviewing Myrtle's forces, _hmph-_ and a city guard independent of military command is _unlikely_ to appeal to him." He looked sour, especially when he pronounced Kaarlo's title. Clearly not everyone in Myrtle was pleased with the new regime.

But, he was still following the Admiral's orders... Ally or not, Elsa made a mental note not to trust him, at least not yet.

"Shall we get moving, your majesties? Our scout is waiting just up the path." The captain peered up the path ahead of them, shielding his eyes with a coarse, scarred hand.

He was right, of course, and they set out immediately. They had a seven day trek ahead of them. Elsa would have cursed herself for not at least _trying_ to make the journey by ship, which would be faster by days, but their own ship, having finally limped into Myrtle an hour or two after them, had been greatly in need of repair. Unsurprisingly after that, the Admiral had not seen fit to spare any Myrtlean ship for the expedition.

At least the scenery was pleasant; at this altitude the landscape was a maze of rocky crags, patchily carpeted in mountain grass.

As they moved up the twisting path into the mountains, Olaf bouncing along in front of them obliviously, Elsa began to hear what sounded like music playing. And then a human voice.

Olaf suddenly started and ran further ahead, having noticed the singing. He rounded a corner and was out of sight.

Elsa slapped her forehead. It was going to be seven days of this. "Olaf!" she called. "Don't run ahead! I can't see you-"

Suddenly there was a loud shriek, and the music stopped. The two sisters glanced at each other, and then sped their mounts up the mountain path, to see what Olaf had gotten himself into.

They rounded the corner and came to a place where the path widened, and a campfire had been built.

Next to the fire, a young man in dark clothes stood with his sword drawn, a small lute lying forgotten at his feet. He was slender and long-legged, with a messy shock of black hair. His face was white as a sheet, his eyes fixed on Olaf. The offending snowman looked up at him curiously and quite unfazed, idly reaching out to flick the end of the man's blade- a small cutlass- with a sharp _doing_ of wood on metal.

Anna stifled a giggle. Dismounting, Elsa walked up to the two, took Olaf's hand in hers, and cleared her throat loudly. The stranger looked straight at her, then at Olaf. Then he winced in embarrassment, sheathing his blade.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but seemed to hesitate. It was then that Elsa first noticed his eyes...

Serious eyes, deep-set on a long face, and a distinctive _dark_ blue. No, blue _within_ black. It gave them a magnetic quality, like... looking into a deep well, thinking you see something shining at the bottom.

Anna trotted up on her horse. "Is _someone_ going to say something?"

The boy reddened. Then he picked up his lute, slung it over his shoulder, stepped up, and knelt in from of Olaf and Elsa, his long leather coat trailing behind him. He moved like a dancer, or a cat, with a natural, athletic grace.

"I must apologise to you both. I was... caught a little off guard." He looked at Olaf, then up at the queen. "I could not have known... the stories were _true._ "

Elsa nodded to herself. It was so easy to get used to having Olaf around, she was always forgetting that, for those not from Arendelle, a living, speaking snowman could come as something of a shock. At least, when it comes barrelling round a corner at you...

The boy reached out a hand to Olaf, who shook it enthusiastically.

"I am sorry if I startled you in turn, master snowman. Might I know your name?"

"My name is Olaf!" the little creature beamed. He was always happy to make new friends.

"A pleasure to meet you, Olaf." replied the boy.

"And what is your name?" Elsa enquired. "Are you Rinne's scout?"

The boy stood up straight, adjusting his dark leather coat, then put a hand to his chest and gave a slightly theatrical little bow. "My name is Jani, and I am. Oh- your Majesty, Queen Elsa."

"Jani, we'll be travelling together, let's not stand on formalities", Elsa said, turning to walk back to her horse. Then she looked back at the young man and smiled. "Olaf isn't _that_ scary, is he?"

His face turned pink.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Note**

I had an idea for a Frozen story, which I worried was un-writable. Hopefully it isn't, but we'll see how we go. In any case, I wanted to tell it before Frozen 2 came out with its inevitable Elsa straight-washing. I guess this story will be AU once F2 is out, although my story accounts for Frozen Fever. Except for the bit where Elsa's powers can dye a dress. Not sure what the hell that was supposed to be.

Gender identity issues will feature prominently in this tale, and, whether or not it is in fact possible to do such a complex and emotive issue justice, I hope my efforts will be enough that my friends outside the binary won't feel I've let them down. Maybe I just won't tell them I wrote it.

I also hope I've done justice to Elsa. The closet is _bad_. And since I don't really do emotional repression, writing it is, well, hard. It was like imagining having a tail.

* * *

The story picks up a bit from around chapter 7, so that's where to go for action. The pace is a bit slow in the early chapters, but I haven't decided whether to trim them down or not.


	2. Chapter 2- A Perfect Day

CHAPTER 2- A PERFECT DAY

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 **Day One, Late Afternoon**

Anna turned her head behind her, taking in the view. Myrtle was gone now, hiding behind one of the many hills to her back. All around, there was nothing to see except rocky highland, edged with orange in the light of the dying day.

Travelling alongside their party- four men and women on horses, including herself, four more in a supply wagon they had been allowed to buy, one driving the small wagon they had brought with them, still filled with clothes and unopened gifts, and one snowman- were around twenty mounted Myrtlemen.

In charge was one grumpy, overweight officer called Rinne. He must have served Rikhard for years- and probably his father before. How could he then turn on his King and the royal family, and join up with this Kaarlo? Anna seethed, thinking about that pompous toadstool of a man, and what he had done.

She just barely remembered King Rikhard- he had been a big, bearded, kindly man. He had visited Arendelle with his family once, when she and Elsa were little. Not long before the Accident. He and the queen had had a little daughter about Elsa's age, a mad, scruffy thing with gingery hair like her father's, rushing about with a toy sword and challenging the servants to duels. The queen had been nursing a little baby boy. She had been a plump, dark-haired woman with a laugh Anna could still distinctly recall, rich and warm as a plum pudding.

What had happened to the rest of the family? The prince and the princess? Were they being held captive, or had they been murdered as well?

Over to her left and behind her, one of the Myrtle horsemen, the one with the bushy eyebrows, looked at her, and she accidentally made eye contact. A smug, dislikeable face, fringed with yellow hair- she glared daggers at him. He smirked and looked away. He wore one of the same red scarves as Kaarlo's guard. Message received- no point asking the likes of him what had happened.

She growled under her breath. Elsa was right, as usual. They needed to know more.

She heard music. It was that scout with the black hair. He was playing the lute as he trotted along on his little palfrey, ahead of the rest of the party. Elsa was riding close by her side, and if Anna didn't know any better she could have _sworn_ she caught her sister smiling at him. God, he was probably only some local hunter they had hired, and, technically, the enemy.

Still, he played pretty well for someone on horseback. And rode pretty well for someone strumming his instrument. Maybe he would tip over backwards and land on his back. That would teach him to keep hold of the reins and stop showing off.

The thought surprised her. _Wow, I really am in a horrible mood right now..._

Anna hated being angry. She wasn't a bitter person by nature- she didn't hold anything against Elsa for their troubled childhood, not that this stopped Elsa from acting like she still blamed herself sometimes. Even when she argued with Kristoff, it was always pretty clean and good-hearted. Even though his personal habits were atrocious. Even after a year as his girlfriend and, lately, his fiancée, trying to teach him basic civilised table manners. But she could never stay angry at the big doofus anyway, with that little look he got in his eyes, the one he must have learned from Sven- like a puppy that doesn't realise it's made a mess...

Kristoff was miles away. Too far. He was watching the palace and making sure nothing happened with Marshmallow and the snowgies. They were basically safe- Elsa had given them all tiny cold air pockets to protect them now the weather was warmer, but they still turned up in the oddest places, even though they were supposed to be up on the mountain. They jumped out of kitchen cupboards and terrified the staff, they stole salad plates and tobogganed down the stair rails- the morning they had left she had found two in her sock drawer. Elsa insisted she hadn't created any more of them. They just made their way back to the palace somehow.

Still, they made life interesting. So did Kristoff, her accidental love. And, life with him would get even _more_ interesting in a couple of months. Breathless romance novel interesting. Maybe someday they'd end up with a couple of little snowgies of their own...

What was she thinking about?

Oh, yes- they made her so angry! She was sure the soldiers meant them no good, whatever they said their purpose was. Elsa should have refused the escort. She was always so timid as a queen, Anna felt, avoiding conflict rather than putting her foot down. She knew her sister was probably worried about losing control of her emotions, but sometimes you have to be... tough!

Anna growled under her breath. Come the evening, she and Elsa would be able to discuss things.

What were they to do?

Kristoff was probably in the palace right now, pinned down by an army of tiny snow babies, envying the fun they were supposed to be having up in Myrtle...

* * *

 **A few days earlier...**

"Easy, Lars!"

Kristoff caught a young ice harvester carrying a block far too big for him, as he lost his balance and almost staggered into Anna.

Grateful not to have been knocked into the water, Anna stopped to watch her fiancé gently scold the youth. He had been showing real promise as a leader and nurturer since Elsa had made him Ice Master.

"Don't walk before you can run, kid." Kristoff smiled at the embarrassed young man, pointing him to some of the smaller blocks. He was wearing only a sleeveless shirt above the waist, and Anna could see the muscles in his arms working as he deftly lifted the massive chunk of blue-white ice out of the boy's arms and hefted it onto a broad shoulder. He knew she was watching the show- he gave her a wink as he turned and casually clomped up the wooden ramp onto the ice ship, to add to the pile already on deck.

It had been a good year for Kristoff. To be honest, Anna had thought giving him the title would be a pat-on-the-head thing, a way to acknowledge his help- and Sven's- while being an excuse to give him a room in the palace grounds.

But her big sister Elsa had had other plans, and, between her powers and genius planning, had turned ice harvesting into a _big_ money-maker for Arendelle's economy. Kristoff's team now exported ice to half a dozen kingdoms.

Kristoff stepped back down onto the quay and wrapped Anna in a tight bear hug. He smelt of sweat and meltwater, but Anna didn't mind- actually, she was getting kind of fond of it. And she'd all but stopped noticing the pungent odour of reindeer which never seemed to quite wash off of him. She supposed it was a bit like being a dog owner.

"So, I'll see you in a couple of weeks?", he murmured into her hair.

Anna smiled. "I'll miss you, big guy."

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "Ha! You'll be having too much fun up in the land of the pirate kings."

He sighed, softly blowing on her scalp. "I'll miss you more."

Anna laughed into his shoulder. "Yeah, 'cause you'll be minding the palace."

Just then, the sound of a small stampede coming from the direction of the palace made them turn their heads. Sven was bounding along with a number of snowgies on his back. Somehow they had stuck several jars of jam top-down onto the points of his antlers; he was jumping from side to side, trying to catch the oozing fruity mess with his tongue as it dripped onto the ground, while his passengers clung on and shrieked with merriment.

Kristoff pined in mock desperation. "Don't leave me here... let Kai take care of everything..."

Someone coughed behind her, and Anna turned to see Elsa standing by their own ship, with an eyebrow raised and a knowing smile. A pair of palace porters disembarked, bowed to the queen, and strolled off back to town.

"Everyone's ready, Anna. We're just waiting on you."

Anna nodded, kissed Kristoff on the cheek, and, stepping back, withdrew slowly from the embrace, running her fingers along the fine golden hairs of his forearms, until they were holding hands.

"I love you, big guy."

"I love you too."

Anna stepped over to Elsa. Her sister was eyeing the waters of the fjord- hopefully she wasn't getting another attack of nerves.

"Are you ready for this?"

Elsa swallowed. "I think so. The captain says the seas should be smooth, and... I just don't want to be trapped by my fears. I've let that happen too often."

She looked over to Kristoff, who waved an arm goodbye, and waved back a little awkwardly.

"Will he at least wear his uniform while in the palace? He'll be watching over the kingdom..."

Anna gave Elsa a look.

Elsa frowned. "I know, he hates it... but he's a part of the court, he can't just wear 'whatever'."

Anna shrugged, conceding the point. "He'll wear it when seeing visitors- that's all I've been able to get him to promise to."

Elsa looked at the ship, took a deep breath, and held out a hand to Anna. Anna took it, and they stepped on-board together. A cry of "Avast ye!" somewhere in the rigging above them told them that Olaf was already aboard, and getting into the spirit of things.

This was sure to be an interesting holiday.

"This is going to be fun."

Elsa looked out to sea. "I hope so."

Anna snorted and rolled her eyes, trying to put Elsa at ease. "I _know_ so. You need to take a break from queenly stuff now and then, Elsa. And hey, maybe some handsome Myrtlean sea captain will sweep you off your feet."

Elsa grunted. Since before even Anna and Kristoff had gotten engaged, she had been trying to find her own match, without much luck. Anna tried to be supportive, and put up with the parade of foreign dukes and princes who had been turning up at the palace in the last few months on various innocent pretexts, although she wasn't sure why it bothered her so much. The people of Arendelle had really warmed to their icy monarch, and wouldn't turn on her if she didn't settle down and start producing heirs _right away_.

Besides, she knew she was a massive hypocrite, with an upcoming wedding and all, but she _finally_ had Elsa back in her life, for real, and she wasn't sure she was ready to share her just yet.

Did Elsa feel the same way? Maybe that's what this trip was- a chance to have Anna to herself for a few weeks, before the big day. She hadn't thought of that.

Anna reached out and took Elsa's hand again. "You know you'll always have me, right? Whatever happens."

Elsa looked a little confused. "Um, thanks..."

The boatswain gave a shout, and they set sail. Kristoff and the other icemen stopped to wave as their ship pulled out of the dock. Elsa grabbed a rail as the ship lurched slightly, but smiled at Anna.

What a perfect day.

. .


	3. Chapter 3- Minor Irritations

CHAPTER 3- MINOR IRRITATIONS

* * *

. .

 **Day One, Evening**

The evening was tolerably cool. The Lord Protector of Myrtle stood on the king's balcony of the palace, surveying his domain with vague distaste. His city- for it was assuredly now his- was once the great power of the northern seas. Myrtlean raiders had struck terror into the hearts of lesser kingdoms all around, pillaging shipping lanes, plundering villages. Now they were a nostalgic relic. A city of ripe puddings dressed as sailors, warriors at cards and heroes of the drinking contest. Kaarlo spat. He would whip them into shape again.

He pulled at his uniform jacket, trying to get it to sit properly. He had had the foresight to instruct the fleet tailor to make a fine uniform of the Protector, to his specifications. The ensemble looked splendid, as it should: based on his old admiral's uniform, with a black double-breasted jacket cut from wool, the raven's-wing black of Myrtle with facings of his own family's colours of blood red and navy blue. The silk undercoat was also red, richly decorated with gold. But something had gone wrong with the fitting- the uniform felt slightly out of shape. He would have to call the damned man in and get it adjusted. One of several minor irritations, none of which truly diminished the glory of this day. An incompetent tailor, a troublesome royal family, an uncooperative son, and an inconvenient witch. Petty distractions.

To hear tell in Myrtle's numberless taverns, the city's golden age was well over three centuries ago, under King Niklas Seacrow. People sang songs, drunkenly, of his daring, his ruthlessness, the great battles he won, and the riches that Myrtle accumulated under his helmsmanship. Some more colourful tales even ascribed unnatural powers to him, like turning into a bird, or second sight. Peasantry and their superstitions...

But his descendant, Rikhard, had been a flaccid marshmallow of a man. The whole city had become like the weakling trader kingdoms they used to feast upon. Only now he was gone could a man of drive and vision restore what they had lost...

Captain Sulo- no, Lord Sulo, his trusted second-in-command, stepped out onto the balcony. A small, smooth, bald man, Sulo was a mediocre fighter but an excellent administrator- the perfect staff officer- and had been fulfilling the role of Lord Chamberlain since that rusty old fart Alvar had fallen down and died during the coup. Damned inconvenient, that, especially since _he_ might have warned them that the Snow Queen of Arendelle was due to pop in for wine and canapés.

Informal visit? What in the name of the frozen depths is an 'informal visit' from a damn queen? Had they not thought that _maybe_ the head of the military should know more than a couple of days in advance? It's come to something when you're mid-way through a perfectly effective purge, and then a bloody foreign embassy show up and makes you feel like you've been caught sitting on the lavatory.

Sulo cleared his throat, and Kaarlo acknowledged him with a nod. "Lord Chancellor? The Arendelle party have passed beyond the Ruff. They're out of Myrtle."

Kaarlo grunted.

"The men are still searching for the queen and the princess."

The Lord Protector did not answer, only waved a dismissive hand. Two sheltered palace women would not evade them for long. As he required the princess to consolidate power in the long term, their capture was important, but no cause for concern at this juncture. Nevertheless, he had promised five hundred gold crowns to the soldier who brought either fugitive back to the palace. A king's, or rather queen's ransom. The financial incentive was proving good for morale. It mattered more that he had the young Crown Prince Jalo, or, rather, the young _King_ Jalo, in his power. So long as he 'represented' the interests of the boy, he could get away with whatever he wanted.

Sulo ran a finger under the collar of his dress uniform, where it rubbed his throat. "If I may ask, sir..."

Kaarlo looked at him, a bushy eyebrow raised. "Certainly, Sulo."

"Why the escort? If we want the witch gone, why didn't we strike then and there?"

The witch. Oh, yes. The storms of last summer had kept every ship in Myrtle in harbour, the mere echo of her unleashed magic frightening in its power, even a nation away. There had once been 'magic' in their own royal line, supposedly, if you could call it that- it probably amounted to no more than a talent for training crows in a culture superstitiously obsessed with crows. Enough to frighten the commons, back in those days. But that... _thing_ from the south...

Kaarlo's lips curled up into a thin smile. "That girl, Sulo, is winter in a bottle. In all its power, and all its horror. If we provoked her directly, she could have frozen the whole city, _and_ the docks. Killing her might do the same, for all we know. She may go off like a powder keg."

He shook his head. "I don't know whether to be amused or angry. All that _power_ , and it ended up inside a fearful child who will not use it."

Sulo thought a moment. "So, what orders have you given the escort?"

"To that old fool Rinne, nothing. He has never seen eye to eye with us. He is too popular with the men to execute on a feeling, though, so I let him take command of the escort to give him enough rope to hang himself with."

Kaarlo smirked again. "But his lieutenants are mine..."

He leant out over the balcony, looking out to the south, to Arendelle, Corona- all those other soft-bellied lambs to the slaughter...

"Whatever happens, I win. The queen is weak and easily intimidated. My men will keep her too nervous to try anything. She has no stomach for battle- she didn't even argue when we gave her her marching orders.

But even if she does, all the better. A witch is like... oh, like a trebuchet- powerful, but fragile. If only one sword out of eighteen pierces her heart, all the power in the world won't help her. We can spin a tale, blame it on Rinne maybe, give us time to build and prepare. Then, when we take to the seas in force, Arendelle will only have its joke of an army to defend it.

And if killing her does bring down eternal winter, it might as well bring it down up in the mountains, away from us."

Sulo nodded. "And if she doesn't try anything?"

"Rinne will try to defect when they reach Arendelle, I'm sure of it. Bloody coward. My agents will then kill him if possible. If by some miracle or interference they cannot, ha! - no great loss, it still gets him out of the way, and we can demoralise any sympathisers by branding him a foreign agent."

"But, the girl will still need to be dealt with..."

Kaarlo shook his head. "Once the witch is at home, she will relax. Imagine that she is safe. Then we can deal with her at our leisure. Arendelle is run like a market town, not a kingdom- she has no real security. A knife across her throat in the dead of night. A drop of poison in her wine..."

Sulo sighed. "It doesn't seem a manly way to deal with it."

Kaarlo glared at him. The smaller man paled. "Would you rather our entire war fleet be crushed in ice by a simpering blonde in kitten heels? Ha! A fine story for the history books _that_ would be."

He growled, pulling at his ill-fitting coat. "No, politics is not a man's game. But we only have to bide our time, prepare the ground, and _then_ we will have our honourable war. Victory is right... there!" He clenched his fist. "Our time is so _close_."

Lord Sulo nodded, and smiled.


	4. Chapter 4- Elsa at Sunset

CHAPTER 4- Elsa at Sunset

. . **  
**

* * *

. .

Night was upon them, and the party were making camp. Hopping to the ground, Jani took a swig from his water bottle, then let it drop back against his palfrey's saddle. He shook his legs, trying to ease their stiffness.

He was leading old Vigilant- Rinne had said he was called Apples, that wouldn't do at all- up the ridge a little way, so he could set up camp apart from the main group. The first stars were already out; everyone, Myrtleman or outlander, was scrabbling to unload, put up tents and cook something. They should really have camped before sunset- the sun would be rising again in a few hours. They would need to be more organised tomorrow.

The valley floor was lit by a handful of small campfires, flickering a soothing golden yellow. But stepping out from between them was a figure who seemed to be aglow with her own faint, blue light, like a will-o'-the-wisp. Jani blinked. It was the queen.

That beautiful woman he had made a fool of himself in front of earlier.

He shivered. Just the memory of that look of amusement in her eyes was... ugh. Not the ideal first impression. _That_ would have been something heroic, like stumbling upon him slaying a bear with a fruit knife. Maybe pulling an old lady out of a burning hut. _Not_ ineffectually threatening a small snowman.

Her eyes were shut, as if she were listening for something. The sun was already hidden behind the mountains; he saw now that her hair was a pale blonde- not white, as it had seemed in the noonday brightness. It was draped over her shoulder in a single heavy plait, which gleamed softly in the day's last golden embers. She walked slowly, but confidently, with her eyes closed. A soft smile lingered on rosy lips. She looked as if she were sleepwalking, or lost in a daydream. Clad in luminous crystal, her slender body swayed with the motion of her steps.

 _Bullseyeing the target at a tournament... Picking a magic flower from the peak of an unscalable mountain... Almost anything other than what actually happened... Oh, shut up Jani, shut up and just look at her..._

Indeed he found himself unable to stop watching the strange outlander woman, with her impossible, exotic beauty, walking along the grassy ground; occasionally she would tap the earth with her foot, as if testing it. Jani smiled, remembering that some of the common folk of Myrtle believed a will-o'-the-wisp was a spirit, which might, if you were lucky, lead you to hidden treasure.

So where was Queen Elsa going?

He found his answer after a short while. Sensing something, she stopped, nodded, and stamped down hard.

And as it came to life, he sensed it too.

 _Water_.

All around her, the ground began to vibrate, and seemed to glow a shimmering blue; then crystals of luminous ice started to rise out of the soil, swelling into pillars, forking and twisting together like branches.

Jani found himself running, running towards the miracle, wanting to see it up close.

He was not the only one- the rest of the camp were all drawn to the spectacle, from the princess Anna, who had surely seen this a thousand times, to the obvious, scarved Kaarlo loyalists among the Myrtlemen, who muttered and crossed themselves while nevertheless staring as transfixed as everyone else.

Translucent rafters criss-crossed each other, and grew a shaggy covering of ice crystals that much resembled thatch. Elsa stood in front of the building, hands raised, fingers drawing patterns of spiralling frost in the air. Great doors formed in an opening a few feet from the ground, and grew intricate fractal decorations, snowflakes and crystals; delicate icy steps rose up to meet them.

It was... a mead hall. A perfect replica of a Myrtle drinking hall from olden times, right down to the finely styled dragon figurehead over the door. All from _ice_. She had just tapped her foot, and it had appeared, on a fine summer evening.

Elsa walked up the steps of the building she had created. Upon reaching the door, she held a hand up, palm raised, and a key of blue ice appeared in it. Then- Jani could hardly believe his eyes- she put the key in the ice doors, _unlocked them_ , and opened them wide. Then she stopped, and turned around, a look of pleasure and satisfaction on her face. For a second, Jani could have sworn she looked right at him. Then she waved to her sister.

"Anna, Olaf! Come on inside!"

Her sister and the ebullient snowman bounded up the steps, and together the strange little family retreated into the impossible hall and shut the doors.

But as they did so Elsa looked back, caught his eye, and smiled. Just for a moment, then she was gone, ice doors _snapping_ shut in her wake.

Jani stood there for a moment, just staring. Then he walked a complete circuit around the magical construction, limping a little on his aching legs, taking in every detail of Elsa's sublime artistry. The frosty blue pillars supporting the walls had _grain_ , as if they were dressed timber transformed into ice. He could see _nails_. How did she imagine the _nails_? He stopped, and shook his head, astounded.

" _What is she?_ " he wondered aloud.

The somewhat elderly Arendelle woman next to him poked him hard in the shoulder, making him jump.

"Mind your mouth!" she said, poking him again. "So she can make ice. She's a good girl. I've known her since the day she was born, and our little Elsa wouldn't hurt a fly."

"That's not what I..." Jani tried to protest, but the old woman had already stamped off in the opposite direction.

Jani sighed. "Not what I meant..." He rubbed his arm. Strangely defensive... Better the shoulder than the chest, at least. He looked one more time at the mead hall. For a moment he was tempted to go up to the door and knock, but... no. It was no time for visitors. Silly idea. Besides, he felt a certain lack of confidence around the queen which was quite surprising for him, even given his current situation. Their next encounter would require a bit of forethought, if he didn't want to make an arse of himself again.

And besides, he had to remember that the queen and princess were outsiders, and who knew what their priorities were? While they would hopefully realise that it was in all their interests to work together, he and old Ukko would have to sound them out carefully.

What was it the old man had once said to him? _Listen flower, this world is brutal. You can't go spilling your guts to any girl who's ever made your knees quiver._ True words, as it had turned out.

*sigh*

He trudged his way back up the slope, to where Vigilant was still patiently awaiting him.


	5. Chapter 5- Loss and Confusion

CHAPTER 5- Loss and Confusion

. .

* * *

. .

The doors _snapped_ shut.

The barren interior of the hall was bare as the inside of a box, lit up blue by the steady glow of the magic within its walls. The sisters and Olaf stared into a blank space, and Elsa felt the last of her motivation draining away.

She had designed the Myrtlean feasting hall as a treat for the Marttilas. She wasn't sure why she had made it just now. She had been looking forward to making it this week- maybe she just wanted something about this trip not to be a loss. But now it was like a ballroom after the ball had been cancelled.

After staring blankly at the floor for a moment, she waved a hand and formed a few furnishings. A couple of her favourite dining chairs, some simple beds to throw furs over, and a little table with a crocus rosemaling, based on the one in the drawing room. It made it a bit like home, in a silly way. If she had made the full feasting hall interior, then it would have felt even _more_ like a party that nobody got to go to...

The severity of the situation struck her even more strongly than before, and she stumbled robotically over to the table, drew up a chair and rested her forehead against the smooth icy surface, groaning softly.

Anna sat down beside her and did the same, but took hold of Elsa's hand where it rested on the table top and squeezed it tightly.

A host of doubts and chilling possibilities jostled for attention in Elsa's mind, feeding into her stress and adding to her exhaustion. Yes, they had a forced march through cold and dangerous mountains when they had been expecting a couple of weeks of courtly entertainments, but what of Myrtle's royal family?

King Rikhard was brutally assassinated by an usurper, his son Jalo, now the rightful king, was clearly this Kaarlo's prisoner. The queen and princess were apparently missing and being hunted. Were they on the road together, sleeping in barns and under rocks, trying to avoid the soldiers of the Lord Protector? Or worse- it had just struck her- maybe Kaarlo had already _disposed_ of them, and their 'escape' was a ruse to cover up their murder...

And Myrtle's people... dread had been etched onto every face. Those few whom, in the course of taking on supplies, they had been able to shake, cajole or bribe answers out of had hinted at a bloodbath in the palace- the bodies of courtiers and guards being brought out in wheelbarrows by men in the black and iron-grey of the Myrtle military. The city's 'lockdown' was sounding like a reign of terror.

The two sisters sat like that, slumped over the table together, for some minutes, while Olaf arranged his little bed to his liking, even fixing a little portrait of himself and Marshmallow to the wall above it using his frozen carrot nose as a hammer. Even he seemed a little subdued, whistling half-heartedly, and glancing back at his mistresses several times, as if worried about disturbing them. In the end, Anna spoke first.

"Elsa, this is really bad, isn't it?"

Elsa rolled her head to one side so that she was facing Anna, and nodded.

"Not just the poor King, I mean, or that we're practically prisoners of these murderers..." Anna frowned, trying to put a complicated thought into words.

Elsa found the words for her. "Kaarlo is dangerous. Dangerous for _everyone_."

Anna brought her free fist down on the table. "Yes, he's a maniac! But... do you mean... war?"

What else?

"Myrtle's history is one of isolation, conquest, piracy, or all three, Anna. There are plenty of people up here who want the old days back. Rikhard wanted to open Myrtle up to the world, but he had enemies. Turned out one of them was his own Admiral."

Anna's blue-green eyes were wide with anxiety. "But we're their nearest neighbours. Arendelle will be right in the firing line!"

Elsa sat back in her chair and stared up at the rafters, glittering softly in the half-light. Anna was right to be anxious. Myrtle's ships and sailors had a terrifying reputation, and, even just based on sheer numbers, their black-sailed navy was a match for any three of the other northern kingdoms.

She swallowed, feeling her nerves start to vibrate in the way that signalled her powers waking up. She tried to concentrate on keeping her breathing slow. "That's what I'm most afraid of. Regardless, we'll need to bring all the kingdoms together. Make plans... alliances..."

She closed her eyes, and a tear ran down her cheek, making it a few inches before, inevitably, setting into a few tiny droplets of solid ice, which bounced onto the floor and shattered inaudibly.

"You know", she began, her voice a little cracked, "whenever I'm not sure what to do, I always ask myself 'Elsa, what would Pappa have done?'" She rubbed at her eyes. "But Pappa never faced anything like this..."

Anna pulled her into a firm, sisterly hug. "You'll do great, Elsa. Anyway, you have something Pappa never did."

"The ability to make a giant wall of ice as a temporary naval defence?"

"No, silly. A sister. A sister who can help you talk to the Kings and Queens and Princes and Grand Duchesses to get buy-in on whatever plan her brilliant queen sister comes up with."

"I'm pretty sure that's what Mamma used to do."

Anna grinned, remembering. "Yeah... Pappa was clever, but he could never really work a dinner party like Mamma. For such different people, they were a good team."

Elsa smiled too. "Just like us."

Anna hugged her again, but then shivered slightly. "This might be dumb to ask, but could we have a fire in here? Would it melt everything?"

Elsa smiled at that, in spite of her mood, and was about to explain the obvious when, suddenly, there was a muffled thumping noise- someone knocking at the doors.

Neither of them were much in the mood for visitors, and it was really more time to eat something and then go straight to bed, but all that became academic when Olaf immediately bounded up and, before anyone could stop him, opened the doors wide. He looked up at one Captain Rinne.

Captain Rinne was a battered, scarred old man in ring mail, thick around the middle, with a stubbly chin and a big, grey moustache like a grandfather walrus. He looked down at Olaf, a little uncomfortably, and coughed into his hand.

"Captain Rinne, Mister... Snowman."

"Olaf."

Rinne nodded, and scratched at his ear.

"Is there any chance I could speak to the queen...?"

At that point Anna got up and brought him through.

Elsa had expected a visit from the old man, obviously. There were practical considerations which had not been addressed, rushed as their departure, or rather expulsion from Myrtle had been.

The officer certainly seemed keener to ingratiate himself to royalty than the 'Lord Protector', which made the discussion easier, although Elsa wasn't sure if she found that a comfort or a worry. If Rinne were a clear partisan of this Kaarlo, and similarly brusque and aggressive in his manner, well, knowing where you stand is something, even if where you stand is as someone's prisoner. But, much as the captain seemed the sort never to have cracked a smile in his life, and spoke in an unbroken snide tone which grated on the nerves, he was very reasonable in his negotiations, making her immediately suspect he had some unknown axe to grind.

Guard duties were Rinne's lookout since, excepting two old Arendelle soldiers with ceremonial spears and tall hats- near retirement and grown used to little more than standing to attention outside doors- all the guards in the party were Myrtlemen. He in turn was happy to let Gerda ration the supplies, so the discussion soon turned to navigation. Elsa voiced her concern at finding good routes through the mountains when there was no established trade path, but this was waved aside by Rinne.

"Jani can find us a way forward, no problem, your majesty", he said.

Anna cut in. "Is it that simple? Aren't there haunted forests and giant bears up here?"

Rinne sniffed. "Ordinary sized bears. For the first couple of days we have to worry more about bandits, or laming the horses on the rocky ground."

Anna leaned in at him suspiciously. "But there _are_ haunted forests."

Rinne looked at Anna as if she'd dribbled down her front, but retained a chilly courtesy. " _Yes_ , there are haunted forests, your Highness. This is _Myrtle_. We do haunted forests, piracy, and crows, in ascending order of popularity."

Elsa rubbed her temple. "Will we need to travel through them?"

Rinne shook his head. "It'd be faster, but Jani agrees it's not worth the headache. People go missing in those woods, and it might not all be wolves." He looked at Anna. "Or giant bears."

Elsa frowned. "Should Jani be here for this? It would be easier to discuss this all directly."

Rinne shook his head. "He'll scout ahead a little way tonight, check for signs of beast or bandit."

"Nevertheless, I would like to speak with him. Maybe tomorrow morning?"

Rinne stiffened a little. Elsa had dealt with enough ambassadors to recognise a bad poker face. A glance from Anna confirmed that she had seen it too.

"Any particular reason?"

It suddenly struck Elsa that she hadn't, in fact, any particular reason to give, and she was only saved from having to awkwardly back-pedal when Rinne shook his head and pulled himself to his feet.

"I'll tell him to come by", grumbled the old soldier, grey moustaches twitching as he spoke, and moved to leave. Elsa decided to poke him a little more.

"He seems young. Does he really know the mountains that well?"

Rinne snorted dismissively. "He's a better guide than we need, don't you fret."

Was that... pride in his voice?

Elsa decided it was worth pushing. "Is he a relation of yours?"

Rinne's eyes darted about. Another 'tell' of his. Elsa thanked the stars above she had thought to re-read _Eustatius Garamond's Guide to Offensive and Defensive Diplomacy_ before setting out on this disaster of a trip.

An afternoon spent reading is _never_ an afternoon wasted.

"No ma'am", he replied after a moment. "a friend of the family." His face grew even more serious for a moment- she could have sworn his moustaches sagged. "His father... died in the coup. I thought it good to take him out of Myrtle for a while. For his own sake."

Rinne then shuffled to the door rather more quickly. This time, the sisters let him leave.

A confession, of a sort. According to Garamond, this small victory would inspire Rinne's respect and encourage honesty from him in future dealings.

 _Still, poor Jani..._

Elsa's mind momentarily slipped back four years, to the day the final search teams had come back to Arendelle bearing their small, sodden offerings- flotsam from Mamma and Pappa's ship.

Those few objects- a random hotchpotch of splinters and personal items- had made it more real, enough so that she had finally believed it, and let Kai call off the search. It was undeniable. They had been caught in the storm, and never reached the port at Celestine. No ship had run aground, no boats had been recovered.

They were gone, swallowed whole by the sea. And she had known, with an ache like a hook in her heart, what their death truly meant. It had been the loneliest single moment of her life.

And that dark-haired boy was out there somewhere, in the dark, feeling the same... emptiness. The emptiness that comes when, without warning, your childhood is taken from you.

Anna spoke up, breaking the silence. "I hadn't really thought about what the children must be feeling." She looked at her hands. "You know, the prince and princess..."

And just like that, once again, they were back on this this subject. The same thought had been playing on both their minds, then.

Except hers had been... but no need to quibble.

Elsa nodded grimly. "One day, everything is normal, and everything is secure. Then they're gone, and your childhood is over, and you have a whole kingdom looking to _you_. And you think 'How can I be my father? I'm still a kid. I've done _nothing_ '. The throne looks too big... _he_ was too big, and _I_ can't fill that space..."

"The other day, we were planning the hall decorations for the reception, and I-" Anna broke off, fidgeting with her plaits.

She took a few slow breaths, and continued. "I suddenly wished I could ask Mamma about something, some dumb little thing, and then... I just started crying. Kai didn't know _what_ was going on..."

Elsa sighed deeply, rubbing her arms. Then she looked up at Anna and, seeing that she was almost in tears now herself, leant over and drew her little sister into a warm hug. Olaf, naturally, bounded over and joined them, although in spite of his enthusiasm he ended up mainly hugging Anna's chair.

"I'm sorry. I never-"

"Shush, silly." Anna cut her off. "Leave it in the past." She wiped a tear away with her palms and smiled. "So, we're meeting Jani tomorrow?"

"Yes we are..." Elsa affirmed, welcoming the change of subject. It would be nice to speak with the young scout again. She had noticed him looking forlornly at them with his big, dark eyes when she was making the hall, and felt bad about teasing him. What if he thought she was mean? But... now there was something oddly mischievous in Anna's look... "Why are you grinning like that?"

Anna smirked. "I don't know, Elsa. Why are _you_ grinning like that?"

She put a hand to her face. So she was.

This could easily have led to a painful ten minutes or more of sisterly teasing- an ordeal which, as anyone with a sister well knows, can bring armies to their knees and reduce strong men to tears. Thankfully, at that moment there was a knock at the door to announce that Gerda, blessed, blessed Gerda, had arrived with their supper, entirely distracting the famished sisters and putting an end to the conversation.

Until tomorrow, then.


	6. Chapter 6- Wolves

CHAPTER 6- Wolves

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* * *

. .

In the deep of the night, the old wolf clambered down the scrubby slope. He had found this stream before, and Sister Moon shone full upon it, making it glow bright as a bone. Slipping uneasily down to the water's edge, anxious not to stumble, not to look weak in front of the others- there they were, silhouettes against the burning stars, watching him, taking his lead- he buried his muzzle in the cold upland waters, slurping greedily, not caring that it stung. The others pattered down one by one to join him, and ease the rawness in their own throats.

Yes, he was leader still, even with his coat grizzled and scarred. Even with that cold ache in his hips and shoulders, which made it harder to join the chase each day.

His belly gnawed. They should not be here, not in the long days. They should be up in the high forests, growing fat and feeding litters. But the forests were dark and wrong, this year, worse than ever before. Wary, they had shied away, and now were making do with what they could find among the rocks.

Not enough! Not enough! Rabbits and rats and rotting things, and the sick and old who fall.

As he might fall.

His thirst slaked, he stepped away, shaking drops of water from the fur of his muzzle. That was when he scented it. A warm summer wind picked up, ruffling the fur of his ears, and carrying the unmistakable scent of humanity.

The others sensed the quarry also- ears pricked up, hungry mouths whimpered and snarled- and the old male bolted in the direction the wind had blown in from.

Not to seem hesitant. Not to seem deadened in nose or ear. Still strong. Still sharp. Still to lead.

Bounding over the stream, he scratched his way up the far slope of the little gulley. Reaching the ridge, he saw it in the distance. A lone human, dark as cloud in its coverings, bounding from rock to rock like a cub, standing out clear against the patchy grass. Humans see well, and far. The creature looked up, and their eyes met.

The kill was afoot. He moved to an aggressive posture, baring his fangs, lowering his ears, his low snarl joining a chorus of others as his pack joined him, advancing steadily on their victim, moving to ring it in. It smelt of horse, and hide, and its own blood, and... something else. Something familiar.

But he smelt no fear.

It would be a fighter, then. All the better- some sport for the pack. It pulled out a broad stick which flashed and shone under the moon. What difference could it make against so many?

He drew near, now, shoulders hunched for the spring, eyes blazing, but it did not back away. It stood ready, and, as it bared its own flat teeth, it seemed that the sky burnt in its eyes.

A flapping of wings. Crows cried out in the sky above, the carrion eaters awaiting their share. But... _their_ scent was on the human too. And that other scent... the cawing of the birds brought it back to him...

It smelt of the forest.

. .

* * *

. .

Jani crept lightly up to the campfire he had built on the ridge. His sleeves were damp from where he'd rinsed off the wolf blood in the stream, but it didn't bother him. He felt rather refreshed, strange as it seemed. His little scouting foray had proven informative. Besides which, after the week he'd had it had felt good to be able to just... flip out and _fight_ something. Instead of running. Instead of smiling and biting his tongue.

A bulky figure was beside his fire, leaning heavily against a relatively smooth crag which served as a makeshift chair. While his night vision was not quite as exceptional as his day vision, he had recognised Rinne some distance away, illuminated by the irregular, crackling golden-orange glow of the dry thorns on the flames, and, as he drew close, it was apparent that he had nodded off.

A number of crows had also gathered close to the fire. He tip-toed up to the old man, deftly stepping over his own bedroll and soundlessly scooping up the elderly raven who had been perching on it.

"Hiya, Apricot!" he whispered to the old friend nestled in his arms, planting a kiss on the top of her head. She smelt of dust and blood and potato peelings, as she always did.

Kneeling oh-so-carefully in front of the dozing captain, Jani slowly raised his obedient raven up to Rinne's face. He was starting to snore, coarsely and unevenly, and his moustaches twitched with every snort and sniff from his oft-broken nose. So peaceful. Jani almost felt bad.

 _Three... two... one... now!_

Apricot screeched like a lost soul, causing Rinne to leap up from his slumped position with a shout, almost tumbling backwards over the rock.

Suppressing the powerful temptation to laugh, and instead adopting an expression of concerned innocence, Jani held out a free hand to help Rinne up, allowing the raven to fly off to another perch.

"Are you okay, old man? Were you waiting for me"

Rinne brushed himself down, grumbling as ever but clearly unaware of what specifically had just happened.

"I thought you'd be here." He gestured towards the birds.

Jani shook his head. "I do have to _actually_ scout ahead sometimes, Ukko. Crows don't see everything- you learn everything about rotting deer carcasses, but they'll never spot wolf tracks."

"Any trouble?"

Jani unbuckled his sword and dropped it onto his bedroll. "Not too much yet. But wolves keep coming, and they're... _mad_. Just make sure the guards know."

He crouched and rummaged around in one of his bags, hoping he could remember where he'd stowed everything. "I wish we'd had more time, Ukko", he sighed. "I don't have half the things I need."

"Trouble with planning this getaway on the fly, son. It's-"

"Don't call me that. Please." Jani cut him off, a little more sharply than he had intended.

The old man winced. "I'm sorry lad... I wasn't thinking."

Ugh, that was all wrong. Ukko stood there, watching him emptying out his bags. In the flickering firelight he looked for all the world like a slightly sheepish bear, and Jani knew that it had hurt him.

No, he wasn't fair on the old duffer. It wasn't his fault so many things seemed to scratch at the wound.

Jani got up, leaving his few belongings where they lay. "That was... I didn't mean..."

Rinne raised a hand. "I know, I know. How are you... _ahem_... how are you... holding up?"

The unwelcome but inevitable question. He shouldn't have snapped. Hadn't they had this conversation already?

Jani thought for a moment, staring at his boots.

"Not great", he answered honestly. "But, you know me, I'll survive."

Rinne snorted. "You'd better, or this circus was all for nothing."

Reaching forward, he patted the young man's arm, in an awkward but clumsily reassuring way. Neither of them were really huggers.

"You're not alone in all this, you know."

Jani stepped back, raising both of his arms. He chirruped, and a crow flew up onto each of his hands. He smiled, although the smile was forced. "I'm never alone."

"Bloody show-off." Rinne shook his head. "You're going to need to be discreet with those birds, with the army boys around." He gave the younger man a look. Jani shrugged, and nodded in acquiescence.

"Oh, but on the _subject_ of discretion, I nearly forgot why I came up here. You'll be meeting the queen in the morning. First thing, her orders."

He drew a finger across his throat. "I assume I don't have to tell you to be incredibly bleeding careful."

Jani's hands immediately flew to his mouth, and the two crows flapped off, cawing in irritation. The queen?

 _Elsa wants to see me._

 _But... why, exactly?_

He felt a little giddy.

Ukko tutted. "Stay calm, lad, you're as white as a sheet. I'm sure she won't turn you into a snowman if you're polite."

Then he smirked. "Talking of which, her sister and that Olaf thing are in the hall with her, so try not to start screaming again."

Jani stuck his tongue out. His perfectly understandable surprise- _surprise_ , not fear- at the sight of Olaf was not in the least bit funny, as he had been at pains to make clear to Rinne already.

He rubbed his throat, pondering the possibilities, as well as the fact that Rinne was almost certainly _not_ worrying about the same potential indiscretions as he was.

"So... how much does she know?"

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Sorry, this first night has lasted an excessively long time, but that's the last of it. I swear there will be some action soon...


	7. Chapter 7- The Quick and the Dead

CHAPTER 7- The Quick and the Dead

. .

* * *

. .

 **Day Two, Morning**

"That young man is waiting outside", stated Gerda, glancing up at Elsa as she poured hot tea into two mugs, pausing at a third. "He _said_ he had an appointment..."

"That's right", said Elsa, stifling a yawn. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, it was... there was just too much going on yesterday."

"Oh, nonsense, your majesty", said Gerda, in that strange mixture of formal and informal speaking she had developed over her years as housekeeper, nurse, guardian and confidante to the two young royals. She smiled as she poured a third cup. "He's a strange one. They're all strange, these Myrtle folk. They have the wild in them..."

Ah, this again. Gerda, a fundamentally good-hearted woman, wasn't generally hostile to foreigners- a trait which would cause no end of trouble in the royal residence of a trading kingdom. But Elsa detected in her the same ambivalence towards Myrtle in particular which many people shared.

They probably brought it on themselves, what with the liquor, and the cursing, and the bloody military history, and the way they kept to themselves. Not to mention all the black cloth and crows everywhere. Actually, they seemed to take _pride_ in seeming untrustworthy. Still, Rikhard had been hoping to gradually integrate Myrtle with the rest of the modern world.

So much for that.

"Thanks, Gerda", Elsa responded evenly, deciding not to press the issue of race relations before it was even any kind of civilised breakfast-time. She pulled herself to her feet stiffly- she had slept poorly, and was already feeling the effects of the hard riding. She knew she was going to be a physical wreck by the time they got home. "Please could you send him in as you leave?"

"Of course", said Gerda, and made her way to the door.

. .

* * *

. .

"You can go in now", said the old servant as she busied past Jani with a tray and a teapot. Where had they got a teapot? Did they have tea? Both were luxury items in Myrtle, so either the Arendelle embassy had lucked out at the market during their hurried preparations for this forced march, or they had sent for tea supplies from their battered ship as soon as it had reached the city docks. Either way, the queen must take her morning cup extremely seriously.

The door had swung almost shut, but was still open a crack, so he knocked politely on its icy surface and stepped inside.

In contrast to the dazzling creative intricacy of the hall's exterior, the inside was minimalist and plain, with a only few items of simple furniture. Jani only barely registered this, however, because Elsa was there at the door.

Everything seemed to slow down, ever... so... slightly. He entirely forgot what he was planning to say.

She stood there, smiling slightly, with her hands clasped together in front of her, lit by the pale morning light piercing the walls- which, with her fair skin, should have made her look washed-out, but instead seemed to render her almost luminous. Her scent was subtle and sweet and buttery, if that was the right word. It mostly reminded him of white chocolate. Her eyelids were heavy, as if she had had trouble sleeping, but there was a warmth in her eyes that seemed genuine.

Her smile widened. Her scent shifted. She was pleased to see him.

Then the moment was ruined, utterly, when a disembodied snowman head was thrust in front of his face, with a loud "Boo!" which originated from somewhere around a foot behind its actual mouth.

He took a step back, but the effect of Princess Anna holding Olaf's head in front of her face was more surreal than scary, especially given the look of comical bafflement on the little snowman's features.

"Anna..." growled Elsa, covering her face with one hand.

It seemed he was still 'Jani, Who Screams at Snowmen'. It was going to take a lot to erase that first impression; basically, he would either have to do something really _good_ , or really, really _bad_.

Concluding that the time for formality had long passed, Jani looked into the snowy face before him and scratched his head nonchalantly. "So, Olaf- you've grown."

"Rrr, you were supposed to scream again..." The voice behind the disembodied head sounded disappointed.

"Anna..." Elsa growled.

 _Honestly. you jump at one ice monster, and they think you're a soft touch..._ He was pondering whether- and how- to get his own back on the princess for trying to prank him, when she lowered Olaf's head, revealing a vision of perfect chaos.

 _The hair. By the gods. The hair._

Jani whistled. "I might scream _now_. What happened to your hair?"

Anna raised a hand to her head instinctively, then scowled.

To say that the Arendelle princess had bed-hair would be an understatement in the same league as "Smallpox can be bad for you", or "People from Evensong talk funny". It was a masterpiece of tonsorial disorder, looking like two ginger storm clouds locked in mortal combat for the affections of, Jani could only assume, a third ginger storm cloud.

"This is what happens to my hair when I sleep..." she muttered, dropping Olaf's head back onto his body as it pattered past on its little feet.

Jani shared a mischievous look with Elsa. He knew the rules when it came to mocking a younger sibling- Elsa would flay him alive for sure if he _actually_ hurt Anna's feelings, but, as far as a little well-earned teasing goes...

"How does it happen?" he continued, innocence written on his face. "Do gremlins do it? Is it gremlins?..."

. .

* * *

. .

In spite of Anna's attempts at sabotage, Elsa realised the meeting was going rather well. Jani proved to be far easier to talk to than his captain, and the conversation flowed with an ease and immediate familiarity that Anna, Princess Meet-and-greet, always seemed to find with people, but she rarely did.

Jani did something to the air around him, somehow, that made it simultaneously easier and harder to speak- which was true even though it made no sense. In any case, they had continued talking long past morning tea, and now she, he, and Anna were riding at the head of the party as they continued south. It made sense for her and Jani to travel close together- he knew when to stop or change course, and, as queen, she could actually make the decision to.

Besides, he was terribly... _distracting_. Elsa was in need of some distraction, after yesterday.

The conversation, unfortunately, had reached the events of last summer, which Jani had heard about, but apparently not in detail.

"You were engaged to a prince of the _Southern Isles?!_ "

Jani looked at Anna with real horror in his eyes.

"No wonder your sister blew up. Didn't your parents ever warn you about that pack of vipers?"

Elsa nodded, and swallowed the dried meat she was chewing- it was easier to breakfast as they rode. When her court had been preparing her to take the crown, she had learned a little about all the royal courts of the north. But she hadn't really registered Hans' name at the coronation party before Anna had announced their engagement, so shocked had she been at the news. If she had, she would have been even more distraught.

"I know the basics", Elsa replied. "The old king is healthy as a horse but has been mad for years. His thirteen sons run the kingdom, but spend most of their time bickering and plotting against each other."

"How do you know about the Southern Isles, anyway?", Anna asked Jani, something suspicious in her tone. She was bristling a little at the topic, understandably. Perhaps they should change the subject to something lighter?

"They're... kind of infamous up here. It's a bit of a sore subject, but they cut off all trade contact five years ago."

Anna frowned, taking a bite out of her own jerky and munching curiously. "What happened?"

"A Southern Isles embassy was staying in Myrtle. My, I mean, Myrtle's king, Rikhard... he cut the third son's index fingers off."

So much for lightening the mood. Elsa's eyes went wide. "Was it an accident?"

Jani snorted. "Hardly. Their so-called prince assaulted one of the maids. It's a traditional punishment up here."

He scowled, running a hand absent-mindedly through his mess of black locks. "Of course, it's _not_ traditional for the king to pick up a dinner knife and carry out the sentence himself. He is- was- very protective of his staff. Possibly, also, the negotiations hadn't been going well."

This brought that particular stage of the conversation to a... natural close. They rode on for a little while in silence.

Elsa looked around her. It was another fine day; she could see as far as the snow-capped mountain ranges to the south and west, many miles distant still, and a bright streak to the east, golden in the morning sun, which was probably the sea. The landscape they rode through was much the same as it had been yesterday- craggy rocks and thin soil, haphazardly colonised by bluish heather, pale mountain grasses, and the occasional bright burst of magenta colour where an alpine flower had managed to take root. There were so many beautiful and unfamiliar wild plants up here- she would have to make time to study them. Her rosemaling was getting repetitive, and she needed fresh inspiration.

Behind her, she noticed that the Myrtlean guards were travelling in a close, defensive formation- as if they were expecting trouble, but apparently not any trouble they cared terribly much about protecting herself and Anna from. Jani had mentioned wolves- but surely they wouldn't attack such a large party?

"This jerky tastes... unusual." opined Anna, peering closely at her breakfast.

Jani smiled cryptically.

"What?"

The scout's smile widened. "That isn't jerky. That's smoked seal."

Anna pulled a strange face, and flung the scrap of meat away with a jerk of squeamish reflex. Jani snapped his hand out and, effortlessly, caught it in mid-air. A small, casual action which was, as all of Jani's movements seemed to be, perfect- fluid and efficient, in a way that became somehow mesmerising to watch.

"Ah! I'm eating seal? You eat _seals_?"

Jani raised an eyebrow. "Yes..."

Elsa inwardly cringed. Not at the seal, which was actually very sweet and gamey. But apparently Anna was determined to be one of _those_ tourists.

"It's their culture- what's the big deal, Anna? I think it tastes a bit like venison..."

Anna waved her arms around, exasperated that no one else seemed to share her discomfort.

"It's a seal! They do tricks! They have flippers, and big round eyes and smiley little doggy faces!"

Jani held up Anna's discarded snack and waggled it between thumb and forefinger. "So, you're not going to finish this, then?"

Anna shook her head.

Jani shrugged. "Waste not, want not." He took a bite, keeping a hand on his reins.

"Look", he continued after a mouthful, "in winter up here you only get a couple of hours of proper light a day. We don't have good harvests. So we can't ignore good food sources when they just _turn up_ on the beach. Maybe to _you_ it's a cute sea creature. To _us_ it's a big dollop of meat and oil wrapped up in fine boot leather."

Anna's eyes widened as she looked down at her own feet, trying to stretch them as far away from her body as possible without falling out of her saddle.

"So, these boots I picked up in Myrtle..."

Jani smirked. Just a little. "Oh, yes. But obviously, for quality footwear like that we use only the hide of the softest, _fluffiest_ little seals."

Anna closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not listening. Not. Listening."

"Puppies of the sea, we call 'em. Just feel that warm baby fur between your toes..."

Anna opened one eye. "You scream at snowmen."

Jani rolled his eyes. "Hah! You scream at _food_."

Anna stuck her tongue out.

Jani stuck out his own tongue.

Then they both started giggling. Elsa had to assume this had been some kind of bonding exercise- an isolated childhood had left her a little slow socially. Still, she was glad they were getting along, even if it was in a weird kind of way.

Seal really did taste amazing, once you got past the 'cute' thing. But what was that other taste?

She turned to Jani. "Is this made with juniper berries?"

Jani looked down at his own piece. "Yeah, we put 'em in just about everything."

Elsa smiled. "Mmm... my first authentic Myrtle seal. It's... actually really good."

Jani grinned. "Aye, but the drumsticks are awful. It's like eating a big glove."

He looked down at Olaf, who was skipping along merrily beside Elsa's horse, with a little rucksack on his back. "Hey Olaf- do _you_ eat?"

Olaf thought for a second. He glanced at Elsa, and she shook her head firmly. "Not really... Sometimes I put cake in my face, but it just hangs around inside my body and goes hard. Elsa says I'm not allowed to do it anymore."

"I had to pull so many cookies out of his head the last time", Elsa explained. "It was kind of a waste."

Jani furrowed his brow. "So, if you don't eat, and you obviously don't need clothes... what is the backpack for?"

Olaf thought again. "I was thinking of putting things in it."

Elsa laughed. "Yes, Olaf, but _what_ things?"

Olaf shrugged. "Things. Fun things."

Then Jani sat bolt upright in his saddle.

He sniffed the air with a nose as sharp and straight as a knife.

He looked at Elsa. There was something bright and keen in his dark eyes, compared to a moment ago.

"Be on guard." He pointed towards a rocky ridge some way ahead of them- this part of the country seemed to be nothing but rocky ridges. Elsa tried to follow the line of his finger, but didn't see the wolf until it started to be joined by others.

Elsa held up her hand to signal a stop. One of the soldiers shouted a complaint; Jani replied with something obscene as he swung himself down from his saddle and drew his cutlass.

The wolves had started running, now. There were... a lot of them. Elsa felt fear's familiar pang in her heart, waking her power again. Sharp teeth gnashed and snarled, rapidly closing on them.

 _Dozens and dozens._

 _Why?_

"Swarming like rats, the scurvy sods..." she heard Jani mutter. He pointed to the two Arendelle guardsmen, who had dismounted and picked up their spears. "Take position, now! Guard the royals!" Captain Rinne was barking his own orders at the Myrtle troops.

The first wolves were upon them. They were starved and mangy; madness and hunger burned in their eyes. Elsa raised her hands to defend herself with an ice blast, but instead Jani skipped forward with his sword, whistling to attract their attention.

Then... it was as if he became weightless. He swept his blade through three of the creatures in as many seconds, leaping and dancing out of the way of snapping fangs. He was fast. So fast.

Then a wolf leaped at her, white teeth in glistening black gums snapping at her face, and she panicked, flailing with her powers and managing to knock it down almost by sheer luck. She wasn't a fighter. She certainly wasn't a killer, however many people might be dead because of her...

 _Don't be the monster they fear you are_... The unwelcome voice sprang up unbidden from her memory, reminding her of what had happened last time she was forced into battle, before another wolf dove in past the spear of a guardsman and survival instinct forced her back fully into the present. A volley of icy missiles battered the poor dumb animal senseless- Elsa didn't have the heart to strike a killing blow.

At least her powers were staying under control. She supposed she was too busy staying alive to think about how scared she was.

It was a struggle just to process what was happening in the chaos around her. Everywhere she looked was a whirlwind of blades and teeth. She saw that her honour guard had pulled Anna back behind them and were doing a reasonable job of keeping the predators off of her, thank goodness. Captain Rinne and the Myrtlemen were brawling at this stage, all notions of defensive formation forgotten in favour of swiping away furry bodies as swiftly as possible. Jani continued to weave through the pack, spinning and dodging with impossible speed, delivering death faster than the wolves could react. He was... actually _giggling_ as he went.

Maybe Gerda had a point. _Wait. Is that racist?_

A familiar scream snapped her head around. Olaf was struggling with a mad-eyed young wolf with a brown coat, which had its jaws locked around one of his arms, clearly too crazed to realise the little snowman was far from edible. As they wrestled and tumbled about in Olaf's efforts to get free, they seemed to be nearing the edge of a sharp drop.

"Olaf!" she shouted, unable to get a clear shot at the wolf amid the whirl of the battle around her. Jani seemed to hear her- he sped towards the beleaguered snowman, taking hold of him with his left arm and slashing at his attacker with his right.

Then a lot of things seemed to happen at once. Two other wolves went for the pair. Jani deftly killed one, but the other bit down on his ankle, making him yelp. At that moment, the outcropping on which Jani and Olaf were perched suddenly gave way beneath them, sending both of them, and the final wolf, tumbling down out of sight into one of the landscape's countless little ravines.

The wolves were already pretty well spent, so Elsa ran over to the edge of the drop and looked down to see where they were. It seemed to be some kind of dry river bed, the legacy of a long-forgotten stream which had once cut this small gorge through the rocks of Myrtle in the distant past. In place of water, green mountain grasses were growing. Olaf seemed undamaged as ever- he was picking himself up out of a mound of grey rocks with which he must have collided as he tumbled down the bank. There were other, similar mounds filling the valley. Clearly it was some kind of ancient... religious site?

Jani was also pulling himself to his feet. The wolf that had bitten him was lying on the ground, twitching and foaming at the mouth- it must have broken its head in the fall.

"Are you alright?" she shouted down.

Jani gave her a thumbs up. "Pretty much just bruises. It didn't bite too deep- I think we fell before it got a proper grip."

She smiled in relief. She would have felt terrible if he had been badly hurt, after she had more or less shouted for help.

"What about you, Olaf?" She asked as a matter of courtesy- he was pretty well-nigh indestructible.

Olaf sat down on the broken mound and checked his arms, nose and buttons, counting carefully.

"I think I'm oka- Woah!"

The little snowman sprang away as the mound he was sitting on burst open. Something big rose up out of the scattering stones, as if sitting up in bed. Then it clambered free; dust and pebbles fell away, revealing a strange and gristly apparition. A man, so it seemed, in worn and patched armour. His face was cold and dead, black eyes bulging from shrivelled, pale sockets. Creaking and groaning as it flexed its grey and flaking limbs, the creature dragged itself to its feet.

A second barrow broke open, and one walking cadaver was joined by a second, much like the first except for the corroded horned helmet it was wearing. Both were very large, and looked like they had been powerfully built; all that remained of two ancient warriors.

Captain Rinne had joined Elsa at the edge of the gorge. "What are they?" she asked.

Rinne shook his head. He looked as mystified as she was. "I don't know. This is new."

"Or incredibly bloody old!" Jani shouted up. "These barrow mounds are everywhere- been here even before there was a Myrtle. But what do they _want_?"

 _Good question_ , Elsa thought. The two figures just stood there silently, brushing dust off of themselves, and looking around at the dry valley.

Then they both turned, in unison, and looked directly at Olaf. The horned creature raised a bony hand and pointed at the snowman. He bared his teeth in a grotesque parody of a smile, and rasped a single word in a voice that crackled and grated like ice floes grinding together.

"POWER."

He then clumsily lunged forward, grabbing for Olaf with his lifeless limbs. Olaf tried to leap out of the way, but the monster managed to grasp one of his feet and wrench it from the rest of his lower half.

"My foot!" Olaf yelped.

The corpses glanced at each other, sharing that same rictus grin. The horned helmeted one raised Olaf's foot to his face, and inhaled- a long, choking, hissing breath.

The little snowball crackled with pale blue sparks. Then it disintegrated, breaking into powdery snow in the creature's withered palm.

Olaf screamed.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Okay, this was a long old chapter. Still, I promised things would happen, and they did.

Looking back, I took way too long to get the ball rolling in this story. I may go back and re-edit the earlier chapters eventually- trim out some of the fat if I can. Well, it's all a learning process.


	8. Chapter 8- We Destroy

CHAPTER 8- We Destroy

. .

* * *

. .

Olaf screamed.

All of Elsa's organs seemed to suddenly lurch within her. The shock of what she had seen was almost dizzying. She'd always thought of Olaf as indestructible, and now he was... those awful things!

Without making any conscious decision, she was scrabbling down the slope, slipping and sliding, and brambles were scratching at her but she didn't care.

 _Olaf!_

Panic started to grip her as she realised that she wasn't going to make it down fast enough. Olaf was dragging himself away, whimpering and confused, and the monsters were toying with him, shuffling towards him with deliberate slowness, relishing his terror.

The horned one leaned down...

 _Please, no..._

Then, at once, the dead creatures stopped, cringing and hissing, clutching at their ears. They twisted around and fixed their hostile glare on Jani. He was sitting on one of the barrows, and was playing his little lute. Elsa could barely make out the tune over her own heartbeat.

The young Myrtleman looked up at the monsters and pointed at his instrument. "Oh, you don't like this?" he asked with mock innocence. He strummed a chord. Snarling, the monsters both dove at him, and he had to quickly dive out of their path.

"I really thought music would frighten them, not make them mad!" he shouted, dodging pale hands while continuing to pluck the odd note to keep the creatures focused on him. "Elsa, get Olaf _and yourself_ out of here!"

Breathing heavily and wishing she were more athletic, Elsa had almost made it down to Olaf- albeit on the wrong side of some thorny bushes- and quickly formed an ice stair to reach him, gathering him up in her arms. He was mumbling nonsensically. He felt weak- drained. Her magic was buzzing within her, charged with fear and desperate for release, so she let it flow into him, strengthening the enchantment that gave him life. Life. Surely the greatest power she possessed, yet she still didn't really understand how it worked...

No matter right now- she knew enough to fix it. Olaf's eyes brightened, and his foot reformed.

He was still completely out of it, but he was alive.

An inhuman bellow reminded her of the mortal danger they were in. She looked up to see the two ancient warriors staring straight at her. Well, one of them was staring- Jani seemed to have lopped off the head of the other one, which had done worryingly little to slow it down.

"They're draugar! From the old myths!" he shouted, pausing a moment- although he did not even seem to be out of breath. "My only other idea is fire! Does your power have a reverse setting?"

Then the situation somehow got worse. With a series of uncomfortable cracks and pops, the monsters began to... expand. Bones stretched, and flesh swelled and spit and seemingly re-stitched itself, something like pale threads of blue binding and reconnecting cold, dead tissue. The headless one retrieved its skull and forced it back onto its twitching stump of a neck.

Grotesquely warped and knotted by their transformation, but standing now ten feet tall at the very least, the pair lumbered toward her. Pushing Olaf behind her, Elsa drew herself up to her own full, less-than-impressive height. It was time to be the heroine.

She raised her hands.

The physical force of her spell hit the giant monstrosities like a roaring gale, forcing them to lean in to avoid being blown off their feet. Rime spread, branching like pale lace, over the corroded brown plates of their motley armour.

She lowered her hands.

For a moment, the warriors remained there, motionless as statues, icicles sweeping back from their frozen limbs. Snowflakes hung in the air.

Then, in unison, they stood up straight, shaking broken ice from their bodies. Elsa's heart sank.

The horned one towered over her. Bending its head down so that they were face to face, it twisted its lipless mouth into a fiendish smile.

"OUR HEARTS FROZE LONG AGO, MISS."

Blue sparks now danced in the blackness of its eyes.

 _I'm such a fool..._ She had seen what they had done to Olaf. How had she not realised that they would feed on her power?

"HUNGRY" the other warrior announced, as it finally managed to grab Jani by his black hair as he slashed at it, lifting him up from the ground. He yelped, swinging his cutlass frantically.

Then she heard a whistle from off to one side. Captain Rinne and the Myrtlean soldiers were standing in the valley, swords drawn, having found some path down. A wall of dark leather and toothy grins, which for once she was glad to see. The draugar growled and turned to face the new threat.

An Arendelle spear buried itself in one giant's head, thrown from above. It dropped Jani, who quickly scurried out of reach. She heard one of her guardsmen cheer. Jani grabbed his instrument, which he had dropped in order to use his sword, and began to play again, eliciting a hiss of irritation from the corpse warriors, as he backed away toward the Myrtlean formation.

The tune sounded odd on a lute- nautical, some kind of shanty- but the other Myrtlemen seemed to recognise it, and even began to sing along in a low, menacing tone. It was a war song.

 _When the north wind rises high_

 _Fear to hear 'Dark sails ahoy!'_

 _Stormy sky_

 _Time to die_

 _From the ocean we destroy_

The draugar were testing the line, swinging their great hands at the soldiers only to have them battered and hacked away. The Myrtlemen could not really harm the monsters, but it seemed they could hold them off. Jani gestured frantically at her- now was her chance, while they were distracted again. Pulling a dazed Olaf to his feet, she cast an ice stair all the way back up to the ridge.

 _Shining knights of might untold_

 _Make a feast our crows enjoy_

 _Soldiers bold_

 _Torn and cold_

 _Horse and rider we destroy_

Well, Myrtlean music was exactly what she would have guessed.

And she hurried up the transparent stair, one of the monsters saw her. Abandoning the assault on the guardsmen, it bounded towards her like a colossal ape. It pawed at the staircase, trying to pull itself up on it like a climbing frame, but the thin ice could not take the weight and it slid back down, taking several steps with it.

Close to collapse, the stair lurched under her, nearly causing her to fall, but she grasped at the rail and kept running. As she reached the top of the stair, she saw Anna stretching out her hand. She grabbed it, and with her sister's help pulled herself and Olaf onto solid ground. Behind her, she let the stairway disintegrate, showering the groaning draug with crystal powder.

The Myrtle soldiers were slowly retreating back through the valley. Out of immediate danger themselves, the two sisters ran along the ridge above them, keeping pace- Elsa could see the path they had taken down now- a narrow dirt trail still free from bushes and brambles. One pale warrior grabbed a loose boulder and flung it a the battle-line, where it struck one soldier full in the chest- killing him stone dead- and rebounded off another, sending him staggering, but the others quickly closed the gap before their undead foes could make use of it. Clearly Myrtlean troops were more disciplined than appearances had led her to assume.

Still they sang, still that strange boy played, making the draugar shudder and howl.

 _Build up high, we'll cut you low_

 _Hack your roots with spite and joy_

 _Ever so_

 _Down you go_

 _Wall and tower we destroy_

As they began to move up the path, Rinne gave Jani some signal, at which he drew his sword again and dove through the lines, elegantly swinging the blade through two pairs of gristly grey ankles. The monsters collapsed, tumbling into the valley, and the Myrtlemen broke into a rush, clambering up out of the gorge as quickly as their legs would carry them.

The last out, Jani ran up to Elsa and pointed down the slope, to where the two dead warriors were already pulling themselves to their feet again.

"Elsa, quick! Trap them!"

She understood what he meant. Since she could not freeze the creatures directly, she formed ice _around_ them, a huge mass thirty feet across, like an iceberg on land. Their revenant attackers were still visible inside, motionless, like mosquitoes in amber.

Jani smiled approvingly at the results. "Nice..."

She shook her head. "Don't you see? This won't stop them forever. We need to get out of here before they can escape- lose them, and hope they can't follow us." She looked over to Olaf, who was sitting on the ground, poking at his new foot with a look of confusion and curiosity.

"We'll need to move quickly. I'll get Olaf onto the cart, and then we cover as much ground as we can, as quickly as we can. And..."

She hesitated for a moment, rubbing her hands nervously, then reached over and kissed Jani on the cheek. "Thank you, Jani. For Olaf, and... that whole thing... I... you know what I mean..."

The scout's face warmed, and he hurried off to his horse, mumbling something which Elsa couldn't make out but was probably along the lines of "You're welcome".

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Five chapters of no action, then two chapters of masses of action. What is this thing you humans call 'pacing'?

Elsa and co aren't quite away yet- the events of the day will be rounded off in the next chapter(s); but I've been ages in writing this part, what with work and an inconvenient cold ( _No_ Frozen Fever jokes!), and the last chapter ended on a real cliffhanger, so I thought I should update before it got any later.


	9. Chapter 9- The Officers

CHAPTER 9- The Officers

. .

* * *

. .

The party rode as fast as they could through the winding crags, covering more ground than Jani would have expected them to manage, given they could only move at the fastest pace of a heavy provisions cart and the weedy-looking ponies pulling it.

He was riding up front with Anna and Rinne, although his guidance wasn't of much practical use at the moment- they had effectively abandoned the route he had planned with the crows in favour of just taking whatever path led approximately south and could be ridden quickly. They weren't taking the quickest route _to_ Arendelle, but the quickest route _away_ from the barrows.

Elsa was riding alongside the cart, to the extent that the narrow paths allowed it; Occasionally she would flash a smile in his direction, bringing a warm glow to his wind-burnt ears. _Jani Who SAVES Snowmen. So much better..._

Olaf seemed to be up and talking, which was a relief. He remembered the look on Elsa's face as she had scrambled down the slope to reach him. She had been utterly terrified, not of what the draug could do to her, but of losing someone she loved.

His father's face, staring down at him... he shook his head, trying to clear the image from his mind. An outlander would probably tell him to talk through his feelings, or cry about it, or some other insipid garbage. But there was... honestly nothing to say. So he shut it out.

Pappa wasn't coming back, whatever Jani did, and even if he did it wouldn't fix what was broken between them to begin with. It hurt, and sometimes distracted, but in the end it was just a wound. It would heal if he didn't pick at it.

Then they ran out of road. The whole party ground to a halt at the edge of a sheer cliff, dropping down into a deep and wide gorge. Far below them, a fast flowing river roared along, crashing against dark and unwelcoming rocks. He had overlooked this small detail.

"Hey, Jani, how are we supposed to get across?" Anna was pointing at the several hundred-foot drop as if it were his fault. Actually, it kind of was...

"We've drifted a bit west of my preferred route", he explained. "Further along there are places we can cross. We could try to make our way down..."

"That'll take forever!" Anna wasn't happy. He doubted anyone else was either- the sense of being followed was uncomfortable and hard to shake, especially when justified. He could not tell the party, but an hour ago they had passed one of his crows sitting on a berry bush, according to whom the draugs had already broken free.

"Well, it's our only option", he insisted, "so we should get started." _And maybe not standing around pointing fingers until those things catch up with us would be a good idea_ , he added mentally.

"Hmph", pronounced Queen Elsa, trotting past on her pure white mare. She, bafflingly, seemed amused at something. She looked over the cliff, then glanced at Jani and Anna with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, _here's_ something I can do."

Dismounting, she handed the reins to a servant and shook her hands, dissipating the riding gloves she had created, then stepped up to the cliff edge. She stared intensely at the opposite side of the canyon for a while, holding her fingers up at right angles as if trying to measure or estimate distances or something.

"Everyone stand back!" she shouted. Everyone shuffled a few feet back. "I'd like to see some dead monster do this..."

"It's too far!" Anna protested.

"Nonsense, I've done the math."

They were quite crowded together on the cliff edge, but Jani was lucky enough to have a good view both of what was happening in the canyon, and of Elsa. Well, any view of Elsa was a pretty good view... _No, don't get distracted! Watch, the water..._

Out of the grey-blue waters of the river, far below, rose slender spires of ice, like plant shoots, which grew and branched and knotted and merged with each other. The swelling lattice rose up to their level, driving itself into the rock of the cliff with a rumble which unnerved the horses, as well as the cliff face opposite.

The nascent bridge twisted and bowed, forming an elegant arch, rooted in the riverbed, but supporting on its high shoulders the fine walkway which Elsa was creating for their convoy. She was a fascinating sight- all anxiety gone from her face, all the world forgotten, sweeping her arms back and forth as if conducting an opera, every motion dazzling in the sunlight.

There was an unseasonable chill in the air. Snow was falling around them, and settling on the ground. The untidy bushes hanging from the cliff edge had grown heavy with frost, and their leaves had somehow... disappeared.

So that was how it worked. Her powers didn't just make it cold. They made it _winter_.

And then it was done. A stylish, yet functional bridge of ice now led across the ravine. Elsa practically skipped back to her horse, and together she, Jani, Elsa, and Rinne began to lead the others over.

As they rode, horseshoes tip-tapping on the clear ice, Rinne caught Jani's eye and gestured to one of the sculptures which decorated the bridge. Jani laughed. It was a fairly good likeness, in ice, of Jani himself, scratching his head in confusion. There were several of those along the length of the bridge; also a few which seemed to be Anna in a cartoonishly sulky pose, and a number of miniature Elsas, each thoughtfully rubbing her chin.

Elsa reached solid ground first, and hurried everyone else along with gestures until they were all across. Then she took one last fond look at her creation and waved her hand. The bridge instantly reverted to water, sloshing back down into the river with an almighty crash.

"Woah", breathed Anna, voicing what they were all thinking.

"I've been reading a lot on architecture", Elsa explained with a modest smile. "A simple bridge of ice would crack over that distance, but with arches, and lattice supports to bring down the weight... well, it worked, anyway."

She patted her horse, and continued riding south. The others joined her.

As they rode along through the winding paths, the ups and downs of the craggy ground, the canyon soon fell out of sight to their rear. But an hour later, on some high ground and with the help of an excellent pair of eyes, Jani could just make out the spot where Elsa had worked her wintery magic. A spot where two pale figures now stood stock still, as if watching, or waiting.

. .

* * *

. .

"What are you thinking?"

"Hey, what are you thinking?"

Lieutenant Niska was ignoring him. Frans scowled, kicking at the other man's boot as he rode alongside him. Eventually the old idiot turned his skinny bald head to face him.

"Lieutenant? Sorry, I was thinking."

Frans gritted his teeth. Their mission was under threat, he was riding with a poorly set broken arm because of a ruddy _corpse_ had thrown a boulder at him, and on top of it all his comrade had suddenly chosen to go deaf.

"Were you thinking about the fact Rinne has someone who can fight like a sodding hell spawn? The fact we're looking at weeks in the mountains when the animals have gone mad and now the dead are rising?" He shook his head. "It was bad enough knowing I'd have to face down the Arendelle bitch. Gives me the bloody creeps, she does, and that snowman thing. Why the hell did we volunteer for this?"

He scratched at his yellow beard. Walking dead. Walking sodding dead. The uplands were dangerous, sure, but the witch had to behind it somehow...

Niska answered him coolly. "Calm yourself, Frans. You volunteered for the same reason we all did- those of us who wear the scarf, at least. If we handle this well and make a name for ourselves, we can expect power and riches in the Protector's new order. I would think a commoner like yourself would relish the opportunity to earn Kaarlo's favour, with so few doors open to you by any other means..."

It always came back to class with Niska, thought Frans. So 'courteous', yet everything he said was a sneer wrapped up in friendly advice. _Of course you need my guidance, little Frans. I'm a noble son of conqueror lords and you're an unshaven ape._

"That being said..." the hatchet-faced elder continued, "Something must be done about the boy."

"How are we going to get through the mountains without a guide?"

Niska gave him a withering look. "If we take care of Rinne and his little assassin, we don't _need_ to get through the mountains. We can kill the queen or just leave her here for the wolves. She needs a guide as much as we do."

In other words, _Don't question me, you potato-headed dirt farmer_.

"It's not the orders we was given. We'll need to clear it."

Niska shrugged. "Then have Edvin send a crow next time we stop. Won't take long."

. .

* * *

. .

Edvin shut the little cage on his saddle as the messenger bird flew off.

"Who authorised using the crow?" demanded Rinne, marching up to the mail officer.

Frans raised his good hand innocently "Sorry sir, it was I. Just updating the city."

The big, bearded man shrugged. Rinne wasn't having his dumb act for a second, but he chose his words carefully. "About... what?"

"Thought they should know the dead was clambering out of their graves, sir. Public safety issue. Thought you'd be big on that, what with heading the city guard and all." The orangutan continued to exude well-intentioned earnestness.

"Very well", he conceded, maintaining a neutral expression. He pointed at the lieutenant's bandaged paw. "How's the arm?"

Frans tapped at the splints. "Could be worse, Captain. I fight with my left anyway."

"Well, take good care of it, in any case. That will be all."

Rinne stepped away and walked back toward the Arendelle party. _I need to talk to Jani..._


	10. Chapter 10- The Monk's Tale

CHAPTER 10- THE MONK'S TALE

* * *

. .

 **Day 2, Mid-afternoon**

"What are you drawing?"

Elsa looked up, her heavy-lidded eyes widening a little, as if Jani had startled her.

"I'm sorry?"

He suddenly felt like he was intruding. He went back to polishing his sword, to give his hands something to do. "Nothing, it's just... every time we stop you sit and sketch. I was curious."

"Oh, you mean this?" Elsa indicated her sketchbook with a wave of the pencil she was holding. "I'm mostly doing abstract work. Floral motifs, and so on. For my ice crafting."

Anna nudged at her sister. "Elsa, you do a lot more than that..."

At her gentle insistence, Elsa handed the book to Jani. The book was well-worn, and seemed to have been rebound at least once with extra pages added in. He opened it at random- it fell open on a page which was festooned with partial sketches of evening gowns.

"You design clothes? Well, of course..." The next page had a large drawing of the final design, finished in watercolours- a flowing masterpiece in lilac fit for a royal reception. Rose patterns around the skirts were picked out with splashes of plum. Jani wasn't really one for fancy dresses, other than on _very_ special occasions, but it was... _gorgeous._ Not too much southerner foofaraw, lines which subtly accentuated the figure of the wearer...

The woman in the drawing was exceptionally well-rendered as well, now Jani came to think of it. He flipped through a few more pages. Her designs all showed an impressive sensitivity to the many subtleties of the female form, depicted in flowing, impressionistic strokes, which made the images come to life in a way he'd never seen before.

He smiled at Elsa. "They're beautiful."

She looked uncertain. "Do you think so?"

"You're kidding, right? Absolutely. Do you wear a lot of your own designs?"

She peeked at the page he was looking at, then stepped back. "Well, of course..."

Closing her eyes, she swept her arms slowly up and over her head. Her shimmering ice dress rippled and reformed; her sleeves vanished, her skirts filled out and developed petticoats and swirling embroidered decoration. Once the ball gown had formed, she lowered her hands to her waist and struck a pose.

"See?"

"That's... uh..." Jani had to stop a moment to remember how to exhale. "Amazing."

He wasn't wholly sure what effect Elsa had expected her magical quick change to have on him, although something about her drawings gave him hope.

He flipped back a few pages. Wait... were there lingerie designs in here as well? "Oh, _wow_."

"That's enough!" Elsa snatched the book away, blushing.

"I wasn't going to suggest-"

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Polish your sword, Jani."

Anna looked confused. "Wait, what's up?"

Jani sighed. "I'll tell you when you're older." He sat back down with his cutlass over his knee. "I need to get the rest of the draug ooze off Snake, anyway. I doubt it's good for the steel."

He managed to rub the strangely granular slime away with the rag he was using. Thank God, there was nothing worse than a sword with a grudge...

"Um, Jani?"

"Yes, Anna?"

"You _named_ your cutlass?"

He looked up. Both Anna and Elsa were giving him the same odd expression.

"Yes... What of it?"

The sisters exchanged a wry look, apparently finding something incredibly funny.

"You are such a _boy_."

Jani just chuckled, and began to oil and polish Snake. He suspected that they were laughing at very different jokes.

* * *

 **Early evening**

"Yep, I'm bored", said Anna, staring up at the sky.

Elsa looked up from her correspondence. They had found a patch of decent grass, and she, Anna and Olaf were sitting- or in Anna's case lying- on it, while they waited for the servants to set up camp and get dinner underway.

Olaf pointed up at the sky. "Look, a cloud shaped like a ship!"

Anna waved her hand dismissively. "Seen it."

"Okaay..." Olaf scratched his head, scanning the sky. "Oh, that cloud looks like Flake! Actually, no, maybe Powder. Or William..."

"Seen it!" Anna quickly interjected, rather than let Olaf continue to list all of his thousand or so physically identical younger siblings.

"Hmm..." Olaf looked at Elsa. "Well, I'm out of ideas. There are only two clouds in the sky right now."

She squinted into the bright sky- although the wind was cool, the summer sun had not yet begun to set, and still blazed white as a lit fuse- and saw that, drifting white against the dazzling blue, there were, indeed, just two clouds. How odd. And, to be honest, the first one looked more like a kite anyway.

She'd never flown a kite... Something else to add to her lengthy mental to-do list.

Watching the redhead and the snowman fidget on the grassy bank, Elsa wondered how on earth her family could go from terrified to bored so fast. She was still relieved that they had made it through the rest of the day's journey without getting attacked again- albeit they had chosen to stop earlier than planned due to how worn out the horses were. At least it meant Olaf was feeling better.

"Anna, you packed about ten different books. Why don't you read one?"

Anna made the same face she had when she was five. "I don't _feel_ like reading. I want to do something fun..."

Elsa furrowed her brows. But, reading _was_ fun...

There were footsteps behind her, and she felt a tickling in her chest as a scent like pine cones and wild herbs wafted over her on the evening breeze.

"Is that _paperwork_?"

Jani led his little fox-brown palfrey over to the other horses, and left it there to exchange suspicious glances with Linnea. The snowy mare had never been one for new faces.

"I have to convene the burgher council when we get back, and I need to be on top of all their requests and complaints beforehand..." Elsa rubbed her forehead. "How are we doing?"

Jani gazed to the south thoughtfully. "We're pretty well back on track. I doubt we've lost more than half a day." He looked back at her. "What on earth is a burgher?"

Elsa tried to think how best to explain. "Well... you know how Myrtle has lords?"

Jani nodded.

"Well, Arendelle doesn't really have nobles- we're a trading kingdom. But the wealthiest merchant families are headed by patricians, or burghers, and they sit on a council I chair which-"

"Not helping with the boredom!" Olaf interjected.

"Agreed!" said Anna.

Jani glanced at Elsa quizzically. She raised her hands, exasperated.

Then he sat down next to her.

She could feel his sleeve brush against hers.

There was that fragrance again- like a forest in spring. She was embarrassingly conscious of how different Jani was from the other young men she had met- how differently he affected her, at least. Was it weird that he smelt so _good_ to her? Or... was this what attraction was _supposed_ to be like? In real life? It never came up in her romances- they were all hung up on steely grey eyes and rippling muscles.

She had never seen Jani out of that big brownish-black coat of his, but she found it hard to expect rippling. He was two inches taller than her at best, and everything about him suggested leanness.

She clasped her hands together to stop them from trembling.

Was it _right_ to be wondering about the muscles (or lack thereof) of a virtual stranger- and a commoner of another kingdom, to boot? A queen had responsibilities.

There was no way she could ask Anna about any of this. Maybe Gerda? Surely she could be discreet...

 _Oh, sugar. I have a crush on our guide..._

Jani leant over, and whispered in her ear.

"They're restless."

"Say what?" Yeah, real eloquent, Elsa.

"They're restless, not bored. They've just been fighting for their lives, and they're afraid it isn't over. So they look for something to take their minds off the situation."

Elsa let this sink in.

"So, what can I do about it?" Seriously, she wasn't a babysitter.

"Not sure", he admitted. "But you're the queen, and the big sister, and the... whatever Olaf calls you... so take charge."

"Of entertainments?"

"Sure."

"Is that an order?"

Jani laughed. "It isn't that hard, Elsa."

"My sister is normally considered the 'fun' one..." Elsa tried to think, although Jani was making it very difficult. "We could build a snowman. That never gets old."

Jani shook his head. "If the soldiers see you making snowmen, they might think you're building an army and... attack..."

Elsa wasn't sure whether he was joking or not, but the scenario was just believable enough to send a chill down her spine.

"There's an hour or two to kill. What if you just told them to go help the servants?"

Elsa's eyes widened. "No, no, no! Not after last time..."

* * *

 **A few months ago**

The explosion could be felt as much as heard, rippling through the structure of the castle and causing the ink pot to upend itself onto her writing desk. Elsa jumped up, snatching away completed party invitations before the spreading black puddle could ruin most of them.

Rushing to the drawing room window, ears ringing, heart thumping, she looked out into the grounds, to find the source of that incredible noise. Was it an attack? By whom? Perhaps an accident? There was to be a fireworks display at the end of the New Year ball, but the rockets probably hadn't arrived yet... Through the misty December air, she could see smoke pouring from several of the ground floor windows.

A sound like an approaching stampede could be heard out in the corridor, and she just had time to return to her desk and strike a calm and dignified pose before the doors were flung open and two unearthly figures barrelled in.

Anna was more black than any other colour, and her hair, where it had escaped her plaits, stood on end as if she had been struck by lightning. Olaf looked even worse. Then they both started talking at once.

"Elsa, we need your help!"

"We were just trying to help!"

"There's a fire!"

"A big fire!"

"Just a little fire!"

"Cook was sick, and I had an idea-"

"It made sense at the time!"

"-how to make enough soup for everyone!"

"-I told him not to, but, you know..."

The pair stopped and looked at each other, then stared at the floor sheepishly.

"We're sorry..."

Elsa closed her eyes. _Slow inhale, slow exhale_. She opened them.

"Olaf, what is that sticking out of your head?"

Olaf shuffled his feet. "A ladle..."

* * *

Jani blinked. " _Voi..._ "

Elsa shook her head. "To this day, I don't know how they did it. They were just boiling water. Anyway, that's why they aren't allowed to help."

"Fair enough... was the party cancelled?"

Elsa smiled, warmed by the memory. "No, it was a good one in the end, following a good Christmas- our first as a real family. But that would be a whole other story."

"Stories!" Olaf piped in, choosing this moment to join the discussion.

 _Yes, that might work..._ Olaf did love stories. Elsa turned to Jani. "Do you have any fun stories?"

Jani looked dubious. "I know all the best stories from Myrtle. But, I don't know if I'd call them fun. More grim, and dramatic, and incredibly violent."

Anna sniffed. "Savage."

"Southern softy", retorted Jani, his face deadpan.

"Pirate."

"Outlander scally."

Anna burst out laughing. "What's a scally?"

Jani snorted. "Look it up. It's there in the dictionary next to a big print of _you_ pulling faces."

Anna drew herself up straight. " _I_ do no such thing, sir. _I_ am a princess."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "You did it yesterday, Anna. Jani, we'd love to hear some of your legends."

Jani shook his head. "Legends are just bilge. This is _history_."

* * *

 **Two hours later...**

"None of that happened, right?"

Anna used her bread to sponge the last of her soup out of the bowl. Elsa remembered having once told her that it was bad etiquette, but on that occasion she had been distracted by two snowgies duelling with forks on the table top, so maybe it hadn't registered.

Jani feigned offence. "True. Every word."

Anna rolled her eyes. "So, two hundred years ago, the king of Myrtle lays siege to his own city? It's crazy."

He shrugged. "That's why they called him Jalo the Mad. He saw enemies everywhere. Locked down the kingdom. His commanders were corrupt, so they taxed the hell out of all the food, so the people were starving. History. It's in books."

"Yes, but the monk?"

* * *

 _Kirsti gathered up an armful of empty mugs onto her tray, wrinkling her nose at the bitter vomit pooling on the abandoned table. She ferried her load back to the bar, where her father threw her a rag to soak up the mess._

 _No soldiers came into their tavern, so they were seldom able to sell food, but the locals would come in and choke down the watered-down swill her father sold them until they were bloated or drunk enough for the gnawing pains of hunger to disappear for a little while._

 _As she was scooping the sticky mess into a bucket, an unexpected noise behind her made her start- like a ruffling of feathers._

 _She had thought the tavern was abandoned, but now a hooded figure was seated at in the corner, his hands flat on the table. She hadn't seen him come in. A raven was standing to attention, still and silent, on each of his shoulders._

 _"_ _W-we're closed?" she stammered, somehow turning a statement into a question. The figure raised his head. Blind eyes shimmered like moonstones, but seemed to follow her as she cautiously approached, trying not to step in anything left on the unwashed floor. The ravens also watched her, in a way which seemed strangely disdainful._

 _The figure cleared his throat._

 _"_ _I am looking for a place to stay..."_

* * *

"A lot of our folk heroes have had the old crow magic." Jani indicated Elsa. "Is it really stranger than anything that has happened in _your_ lives?"

"Strange, am I?" Elsa asked, although she wasn't really offended.

Jani grinned in a way he probably considered roguishly charming. "In the best way."

Anna wasn't finished. "Why didn't the king have the crows destroyed once he realised they were helping the monk?"

Elsa put her empty bowl to one side. _No, Anna, Anna, Anna... don't even joke about that. Not in front of Myrtlemen._

Jani's smile had vanished. The muscles in his jaw were taut.

"Anna", she interjected, in the most diplomatic tone at her command, "Myrtleans don't harm crows. It's like murder to them."

Jani shook his head. "Worse, actually. To kill a crow is... unholy. It is to kill a part of Myrtle's spirit." He leaned toward Anna, and spoke in a harsh whisper. "In recompense, the guilty man is given to them. A feast for the birds." He licked his lips demonstratively. "No grave, no pyre. Just a wet patch and some scattered bones..."

Anna's eyes were wide.

"Boo!"

Anna jumped.

Jani sat back down. "Who's the scaredy-cat now?"

Again, Elsa found herself desperately reaching for a change of subject.

Olaf raised his hand. "I have one!"

 _Oh, thank you Olaf, thank you. We're trying to keep it light here._

He leaned over to Anna. "We're finding flaws in the story, right?" She nodded.

"If he was the king's older brother, why didn't _he_ become king?"

Jani looked confused. "He was illegitimate and raised in a monastery. I covered that."

"I mean _, after_ the mad king died. Why did he just vanish?"

Jani leaned back and stretched, languidly, like a cat. "Maybe he didn't want the throne. Or maybe he looked inside and realised he wasn't what Myrtle needed. He was a protector, an avenger, a man of justice... a killer in the dark... but does that make you a king?"

He flashed Elsa a smile. "Maybe he just didn't want the paperwork."

Anna folded her arms. "Even if I buy that, I still don't buy the story. No one man can take down a whole army."

Jani considered a moment, his expression unreadable. "Perhaps, perhaps not. But the army fell."


	11. Chapter 11- The Child's Tale

CHAPTER 11- The Child's Tale

. .

* * *

. .

Olaf sat up, yawned, and looked about him. In the soft luminescence of the hall's icy walls he could see that the queen and princess were still sleeping soundly in their ice beds. It was still night; he tried shutting his eyes and going back to sleep, but nothing happened. He tried counting snowgies, or rolling over and lying on his other side, but after that he found he was out of ideas. He stared up at the rafters, uneasy. The events of the day hadn't quite left him.

Having had enough, he got up and pattered over to the doors. He reached out to open them, then hesitated, looking back at the beds. No, he would be back soon. Elsa wouldn't mind. He just needed a walk.

Stepping out of the doors of the new hall Elsa had made, he shut and locked them behind him just like he had been told, hiding the key in his torso. Next to the door was one of Elsa's men, slumped against the doorframe with his eyes almost shut. As Olaf bounced past he jumped bolt upright, standing to attention. Then he saw the little snowman, grunted, and slouched back against the wall again.

He wandered through the camp, looking about him. The fires were dying, except one surrounded by Myrtle guardsmen, a couple of whom were keeping watch. They gave him a funny look, but didn't approach him or say anything. Everyone else was fast asleep; the camp was perfectly silent.

As Olaf wandered further on, he thought he spotted another fire, up on the ridge. Curious, he clambered up the incline. At the top, next to a small campfire, Jani was up, cleaning what looked like the carcass of a hare.

On the rocks next to him he had spread the entrails of the animal, and a grey crow and an enormous raven were picking away at them, while chattering away at each other in croaking voices.

Jani seemed to be taking part in the conversation, throwing in phrases like "It's the market gardens in Arendelle, they're after the worms..." or "Easy, Apricot, there's plenty..."

Olaf ambled up to the curious spectacle, unconscious of being observed. But as he grew near, the crow and raven saw him, squawked, and flew off in noisy alarm.

Jani jumped a little too, but smiled when he saw it was just Olaf. He gestured to him to come closer.

"Don't worry, you just startled them." He grinned. "To them, you probably look a bit like a scarecrow."

He looked up, closed his eyes, and made a strange creaking, cracking noise in the back of his throat. A noise it didn't seem like a human being should be able to make. After a moment, the crow and the raven returned to the rock with the rabbit offal on it. They stood there sheepishly for a while, eyeing Olaf suspiciously, then seemed to forget their concern and started tucking into their bloody meal again.

Olaf shuffled up to Jani nervously. Jani looked concerned.

"Isn't it dangerous for you to get too close to the fire?"

Olaf shook his head. "Elsa made a column of cold air that follows me around."

Jani nodded, seeming impressed. "Clever."

Olaf sat down next to Jani. He looked at the birds.

"Are they still scared of me?"

Jani chuckled. "Not really. Maybe a little bit. Don't worry, everybody is probably scary to _someone_. Anyone worthwhile will change their mind once they get to know you."

He pointed to the raven. "Here, how about I introduce you? This splendid old lady is Apricot. You see, she found me nine years ago, and I fed her an apricot exactly once, and _now_ she asks for apricot every time she sees me. Never once have I had any..." Then he pointed to the crow. "The little grey fellow is Mouse Eye. He turned up at the-, at my window a year ago, and I gave him a mouse I found in the traps. First crow I ever met who didn't fly off at the sight of Apricot." He stroked Mouse Eye's head with his finger. "Brave boy. You're still afraid of a little snowman, though, aren't you?..." Upon hearing this, Mouse Eye tried to nip at Jani, but he pulled his hand away in time, with a warm, rippling laugh.

Olaf watched him play with the crows, amazed. He had never seen a human talk to birds like that.

"Is it magic?" he asked.

Jani went a little quiet. Olaf worried that he had said something wrong.

"I guess it's kind of obvious, after I told that story, isn't it?"

"Like the monk...?"

"Somewhat."

Olaf bounced up and down giddily. "Oh, this is _perfect!_ I've never met another magic person before! Were you born with powers, like Elsa? Or is it some kind of Myrtle 'thing'?"

He clapped his hands together. "Please, please tell me everything! Oh, and Elsa will want to know too, and Anna..."

"No!" Jani looked panicked. But why?

"It's just, I... I can't sleep. At home when I can't sleep Gerda reads me stories. But she's asleep, and you know such amazing stories, and I guess I came up here because..." He tailed off, slumping a little in his seat. It had been a great idea in his head.

Jani sighed. "Tough day, huh?" Olaf nodded.

Then he turned to him and raised his hands. "Okay... here's the situation, Olaf. The birds are... a secret. A very important secret."

He rubbed his throat thoughtfully. " _But_ then again, I do like telling stories. So... I'll tell you all about it, if you _promise_ not to tell anyone about what I tell you, or what you've seen here- what I can do."

Olaf sighed sadly. He really wanted to tell Elsa about the birds, but he could tell this was important. "Okay", he said, holding out his hand. "I promise." Jani took his hand and shook it.

There were twisted branch fragments near the fire- Jani had clearly broken up a dead tree rather than use the firewood on the wagon- and the young guide took a straight stick and began to draw on a bare patch of ground.

"Where to begin, and how oblique to be... Have you heard of an Ulda?" he asked. Olaf shook his head.

Jani drew a woman between two scratchy trees. "Pine Mary. A being of magic. A guardian of the forest.

So, in the distant past, a boy was born whose mother had been blessed by an Ulda. Or... maybe _was_ an Ulda, the stories vary a lot. And some are cruder than others."

He drew a boy, surrounded by birds. "The boy was my ancestor, obviously. His mother died, maybe- he was homeless and starving, anyway, but the Ulda gave him the power to talk to the magpies. They became his family, and fed him, and taught him all they knew."

He shrugged. "Which is more than you might think. Eventually he found he could talk to all the crows, from the clownish jay to the magnificent raven." Apricot cackled.

He drew a crown, a jagged line like teeth scratched into the hard dirt.

"When the boy had grown up, he became a king. He grew very powerful, and fought many battles, and many legends tell of the amazing things he achieved. But, you know, he couldn't live forever. After he died, his power continued in the men of his line. Sometimes it would skip a generation- or three- but the Ulda's blessing would always return, and always in a first-born son of the blood."

He dropped the stick, and gave a little curtsey. "Any questions?"

Olaf thought for a moment, sat on his rock. He popped out his nose with a sharp twist, absent-mindedly examined it, and pushed it back in again.

"Are _you_ a king, then?"

Jani laughed. "Oh, if you only... No, Olaf, I am most definitely _not_ a king. The rightful king of Myrtle is Jalo Marttila, the old king's son. I suppose I'm rightful ruler of certain birds, but that's plenty for now."

"What about the Kaarlo guy?"

Jani visibly paled, muscles bunching in his jaw. He picked up the stick and threw it into the fire, a little too forcefully, so that it bounced off the burning embers and nearly hit the raven.

Olaf chuckled nervously, and decided not to ask again. "Why is it a secret?"

Jani exhaled heavily. "Olaf, I don't know what Queen Elsa has told you, but there are untrustworthy people travelling with us. It would not be safe for them to learn of this." He smiled weakly. "You wouldn't tell the bad king about the monk, would you?"

Olaf paused. "What about Anna and Elsa? You can trust _them_..."

"Can I?" Jani looked sad. " _Possibly_... but this secret is not only my own. I should not _really_ have told you. God, if Ukko knew I'd never hear the end of it. But you nearly pegged it today, and you'd already _sort-of_ caught me, so I thought..."

He shook his head, and smiled a cryptic smile. "One way or another, Olaf, Elsa will learn the truth before the week is out. But not today."

Olaf got up to leave, but then turned back to Jani and the crows.

"Thanks, Jani. Goodnight, Apricot and Mouse-eye." The crows squawked.

Smiling, Olaf skipped back to the icy hall, happy to have made an interesting new friend.

Yes, a secretive one. Who scared him more than a little bit. But having him on his side made him less scared about everything waiting for them _out_ _there_.

Meanwhile, Jani stared into his fire, watching the flames flicker in the cool nocturnal breezes. The night was gradually ending. A deep blue twilight was being supplanted by a purple orange glow, slowly spreading across the skies to the south-east. Dawn was lazy in the north. She took her time, trickling fiery and golden through the cooler shades of night, gradually changing slumbering dark to wakeful brightness.

Awaiting the sunrise, Jani sat.

"Yep, I'm an idiot", he thought aloud.

"Still, at least he didn't catch me bathing. I don't think I could have explained _that_ away."

After a while, a third crow wheeled down from the night sky, alighting on Jani's knee.

"Hello, Wash. Back with Frans' orders already?"

He slipped the message from the cylinder on Wash's leg, and studied it.

* * *

WATC **H** WORD: HEARTH

FLEXIBILITY IS R **E** QUISITE IN TIMES OF WAR

SHOULD **A** N OPPORTUNITY ARISE IN WHICH OFFICERS CAN BE CONFIDENT

OF ELIMINATING P **R** IMARY TARGET- DO NOT HESITATE.

ANY OPPOSITION, ANTICIPATED OR NO, SHOULD BE NEU **T** RALISED.

BY ORDER OF T **H** E LORD PROTECTOR

* * *

"Well, well, Uncle Kalle." Jani got out some paper and began to write a new message. "So much for 'escorting' anyone."

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Yeah, it's _on_. There will be fewer Myrtleans by the end of Chapter 12. That's all I'm saying for now.


	12. Chapter 12- The Bitter and the Sweet

CHAPTER 12- The Bitter and the Sweet

. .

* * *

. .

"So you're my guide to all things Myrtle, then?" Elsa asked, looking over at Jani.

"It would be my genuine pleasure." He flashed his sharp smile- blink and you'd miss it.

The guide had joined the two sisters at the front of the party as they rode, his presence already having become customary and unquestioned, and for whatever reason he seemed to be in particularly good spirits this morning.

She was glad, if envious- someone needed to enliven the atmosphere. Her sleep had been troubled yet again, Olaf was acting...oddly, even for him, and Anna worried her. It was a subtle thing, but Elsa could sense her morale was decaying the fastest of all of them, her normal effervescence becoming more and more forced.

Besides, while pouring their morning tea Gerda had told her that a certain someone had brought the servants a freshly caught hare at the crack of dawn, which would go towards the evening meal for herself and Anna. Rabbit pie was a favourite of hers, and this was the closest she was likely to come any time soon. It was one of a few nice things he had done for her in the past couple of days.

Which, welcome as it was, confused her. Actions like those contrasted oddly with, say, the unsettling glee with which he had mown his way through those starving wolves. She could still remember the bitter sound of his laughter.

Could one person be both cruel and kind? Sweetness and venom? And was this the sort of person a queen should trust? Or... like?

Elsa rubbed a thumb across her chin in mock thoughtfulness. "I've already guessed your national bird."

Jani spread his hands. "Any kind of crow, yes. Our national drink is moonshine watered down to grog, and our national anthem is a sea shanty. It's all a bit stereotypical, to be honest."

"What's the anthem called?"

" _We Destroy_. Remember the soldiers singing, back when we had to deal with the draugs?"

But...

Elsa reflected on the fact that Arendelle's national anthem, in contrast, was a song about a flower. There was definitely a cultural divide here.

Eventually she settled on a response. "That's... a little macabre, don't you think?"

"We like macabre in these parts", he responded simply.

His uncanny eyes met Elsa's, bearing an expression midway between sympathy and mischief. "Look, I know this hasn't been an easy situation to find yourself in. But try to see it this way. If all had gone to plan with your holiday, you'd be sitting at some function in the palace right now, sipping some wine, and it would be just like anywhere else."

He indicated the landscape around them with a sweeping gesture of one hand. "Here, you have mountains, bad drink in good company, people trying to kill you, monsters from legend... an authentic Myrtlean experience. You can't buy that."

Elsa paused. "So, I should think of it like... an adventure holiday?"

Jani shrugged. "Why not, if it helps?"

With that, the thought which had been forming in Elsa's mind over the past few days finally crystallised into clear realisation. She regarded the young Myrtleman anew. "Jani?"

"Yes?"

"You're crazy, aren't you?"

Jani thought for a moment.

"So the doctors tell me."

"You know, people trying to kill you is not normally considered a positive thing."

"Clearly we define 'adventure' very differently."

He nodded toward the dark clouds gathering to the south. "Today, the 'adventure' is going to feature one hell of a rainstorm. Hope you packed a good coat."

Elsa shook her head. "The cold doesn't bother me; neither does a little water."

"Huh. No, I suppose it wouldn't."

. .

* * *

. .

Riding some way behind, Frans watched the queen flirting with her pretty-boy with an uneasy combination of envy and disgust. On the one hand, it was comforting to be able to confirm everything he'd always suspected about foreign women. On the other, it would be harder to catch the queen alone if she'd found herself a bed mate.

After a quick glance around to check that no one was watching him, he slipped his good hand into the bandages supporting his left arm, pulling out the crumpled strip of paper the messenger crow had arrived with at breakfast time.

* * *

WATC **H** WORD: HEARTH

PIECES ARE ON THE BOARD OF WHICH YOU AR **E** UNAWARE.

T **A** KE NO IMMEDIATE HOSTILE ACTION.

SELECT YOU **R** FIVE MOST LOYAL MEN. SHOW THEM THESE ORDERS IN SECRECY.

THEN WAIT FOR ANOTHER AGEN **T** TO MAKE CONTACT.

BY ORDER OF T **H** E LORD PROTECTOR

* * *

His orders were confusing. Still, it bore all the proper markings. He had to assume things would become clear. He pushed the note back into its hiding place before any unwelcome snooper could take an interest.

Niska cleared his throat loudly, announcing his presence. _Speak of the Devil..._

"You seem troubled, my dear Frans. Is there something the matter?"

The old man smelt a rat, naturally. It would be easier to work _with_ him, Frans had to admit- but he knew sure as shite that if he didn't cut him out of the plan early, he'd use his aristo connections to make sure he took all the credit. He hung his head in what he hoped looked like exasperation. "I just wish we could act fast, instead of carrying on with this farce."

Niska's face took on that weaselly look which Frans had learned to beware. "Perhaps there is some detail you overlooked. If I could see-"

"I told you, I already burnt them!" Frans raised his voice a little, and it did the trick of making the weasel nervous.

"Keep it down, man..."

"There was nothing- just 'wait and watch'. This commoner can _read_ , you know."

Niska tsked like a schoolmaster, but backed off. "Very well. I meant nothing by it, Lieutenant."

He kept himself from smiling. "Glad to hear it, Lieutenant".

Now, he had a task force to form.

What for? Decisive action, with any luck. Strike under darkness, a few dead Arendelle folk, then homeward for glory, gold, and easily impressed bar wenches.

Who were the best men to choose?

. .

* * *

. .

"I want to learn to fight!"

They were working their way, dismounted, through a narrow ravine. Jani was in front with Vigilant, and the sisters were walking together behind him, leading their own horses, when the young guide suddenly heard somebody blurt something out.

Jani stopped, and looked back. "Um, sorry Anna?"

"No, I mean it!" she continued. "I've always wanted to know how to fight with a sword, and you're so good at it- I mean, wow, that was something else, what you did with those monster guys-"

"Uh-huh?" Jani glanced over at Elsa, who shrugged. Anna barely paused.

"-yeah, and I'm sure you'd be a _great_ teacher, and I'd be the best student ever, and won't you? _Please_... " Anna clutched her hands together, looking at Jani with big, pleading eyes.

Jani took a deep breath and drew himself up.

"I don't know..."

" _Please?_ "

He shook his head. "Anna, you must understand what a serious undertaking this would be. To master the way of the sword must not be attempted with anything less than absolute resolve, complete sincerity of purpose..."

Anna listened, rapt with enthusiasm.

"... as anything less would only serve to court disaster- and dishonour the art. So, _are_ you prepared, Anna?"

She started to nod, then paused, brow furrowing. "Wait..."

"Yes, acolyte?"

"You're just pulling my leg, aren't you?"

Jani sighed. "Yeah... I wish I could have kept you going a little longer. I had a great line about 'becoming' the weapon... Sure, I'll teach you a few tricks. Can't hurt, and we might need it."

Grinning, he carried on up the path.

"We'll break in less than an hour anyway. First lesson- anyone who takes a martial art seriously is a bell-end. Fighting should be fun, or what's the point?"

Anna snorted. "Uh, survival? Life?"

" _Touché_. But life should be fun, too."

. .

* * *

. .

A little later they sat on the soft grass of a hilltop, having just finished their midday meal. He had suggested they stop there, as amid the narrow blades grew a multitude of tiny yellow and red flowers, which he knew Elsa would want to add to her sketchbook. As he watched her work on a drawing, she caught his eye and smiled, indicating that his thoughtfulness had been noticed and was appreciated. Warmth blossomed in him at her gaze.

It was so gratifying just to watch her sitting there, doing a simple thing she enjoyed, seeing not the Queen of Arendelle, nor a goddess of snow and ice, but Elsa- the bookish, wonderfully creative, slightly shy girl who, with every moment he spent with her, seemed more and more like... someone very wonderful.

 _I'm losing my head over this. Oh, Rinne will go spare._

It didn't hurt that she practically shone in the midday light, of course. Her hair was loose today; locks of ice-blonde hair fluttered in the soft, barely perceptible breeze, draping themselves across the fair skin of her bare neck and shoulders in a way which seemed to have an almost physical impact on him. He quickly looked away, conscious that he had been staring.

 _I have to tell her. No, I can't tell her. This sucks._

Standing up, and brushing crumbs from himself, he walked up to the younger sister, who seemed to be trying to balance a flower on her nose, to no avail. Olaf seemed to be furiously comparing flowers, trying to choose the best one to add to whatever else he was collecting in his backpack.

"So, ready to learn the sword?"

Anna jumped up. "Already?"

"We're up in the wild mountains, beset by monsters." He leaned in, lowering his voice. "Of more than one kind... I think the more you know, the sooner, the better." He held his hands out. "Choose your sword."

Anna looked down at the two thick sticks Jani was holding. "Those are branches."

"I'm not going to try you out with a real blade for lesson one. If I chopped you up, your sister would give me no end of trouble." He looked over at Elsa, who nodded, deadpan.

Anna scowled. "I thought the more I knew, the sooner, the better..."

"If it goes well, we'll find you a sword and I'll show you some exercises. But for now, firewood. I want you to get the basic movements down before we start chopping fingers."

Apparently conceding the point, Anna tugged one of the 'swords' out of his grip.

Circling round him, she assumed what she evidently thought was a guard position.

"Okay, teacher. How do we begin?"

"Well, for a start, never loosen your grip." He deftly flicked the stick out of her grasp.

"Ow..."

. .

* * *

. .

It was late afternoon when the rains came, large, heavy drops soaking heads and hats and filling the world with the oddly droning background noise of their collective splashes and pattering. Rinne scowled, as was his custom whenever anything new happened, but especially rain.

His horse shuddered under him. The old beast was a miserable bastard at the best of times, and clearly just wanted to be dry, in a warm stable, and left in peace. He could identify with that.

He was also scowling as he tried to watch, out of the corner of his eye, Frans conversing with yet another soldier. He was trying to be surreptitious, but a man with the appearance of a bear and the delicacy of a particularly stupid bear could only do so much when Rinne was already watching him.

Clearly something nefarious was being cooked up, Rinne concluded, watching Frans moving from one red-scarfed Kaarlo dog to another. The only real head-scratcher was why _he_ was doing it. Niska was the Protector's man too, and far better able to create and/or communicate plans, due to his opposable thumbs as well as his air of managerial arrogance.

Jani had said he would deal with Frans and Niska. So far today, Rinne had only seen him larking about with the royals. He had better do something soon...

. .

* * *

. . **  
**

Come evening, thunder crackled in the angry clouds which swirled like soup above them, penetrating the flat, hissing roar of the rain which stung Frans' eyes, froze his shoulders, and found ways into his boots and under his coat, soaking his socks and the bandages holding his arm splints together. The sun would not finish setting for an hour, but it was still dark as night, black storm clouds thick as mud, streaked with orange and purple where some light penetrated on the western horizon.

This would go on all bloody night. Summer storms were always the same. Ducking back under the overhanging rock shelf they were using as partial shelter from the deluge, he offered some snuff to the soldiers waiting with him.

 _Where were they... Ah!_ The other two soldiers he had approached had finally managed to sneak out of camp. He waved them over; added to himself and the others, they were now a party of six. Ideal for a small operation. All loyal, carefully chosen. All wearing the red.

They huddled together under the overhang, although the wind still swept the rain sideways so that it battered against their legs and feet. He could have wished for better weather. Still, it meant no one else would go wandering and stumble upon them by accident.

The others were all crowded around the queen's newest holiday retreat. Once she had built her usual ice house, she had projected icy awnings out from the sides, so everyone could pitch their tents somewhere halfway dry.

He began by showing them the orders- then reading them out for those who didn't have their letters. The reaction was predictable.

"Hang on", said the blond one with the scar. "What is this 'other piece' then? This other 'agent'?"

"It's bloody pish is what it is", spat the short one- Halvor?- with a sour expression. "We're killing the witch, aren't we? What's this code balls helping?"

There were murmurs of agreement from the others. Frans suddenly feared losing control of the discussion.

"Hang on, you crazy sods", he blurted, "it might not be as simple as stabbing the bitch. Or why didn't Kaarlo do it himself back at the city?"

"He's right!" piped in the _other_ blond one. "We might need a wooden stake, or something."

"She's not a vampire!" retorted Halvor. "She's not a ghost, not a giant! She's a girl! One knife and we're _done_ up here, with these bloody mountains."

For a minute or two, the conversation broke down into a six-way argument largely focusing on who was to cut Queen Elsa's throat and if it could be done at night, along with side issues such as whether stabbing the snowman would work or not, and whether the princess should be killed or taken for ransom.

"But what about her fancy man?" asked Ivar, a thin, scarred old cove who had kept quiet up to that point.

"Jani?"

"Yeah, he's with Rinne, isn't he?"

"Quick and ruthless little fighter."

"I heard a rumour he was Rinne's son, and he was trying to sneak him out the country."

"Rinne? A son? You've been listening to the wrong rumours."

"Aye! Larboard to the end, that one."

"You know", said Halvor, "I don't see why anyone would be trying to squire the Snow Queen to begin with."

"You're joking, right? You mean _you_ wouldn't?"

Halvor dismissed the idea with a wave of his gnarled hands. "Pish! Jani's a nutter to try. She'd snap him off like an icicle."

"Oh, gentlemen. There's so much you don't know about me."

 _Eh?_

Frans jumped at the voice. Peering back out into the rain, he could see a slim figure strolling up to them.

 _Him_.

"You!"

Jani smiled cryptically, pulling his treacle-black greatcoat around himself. His dark hair was plastered against his head. "Nice weather, don't you think? Great for secret chats. No one can hear you from more than ten feet away."

There was a sound of scraping steel as six soldiers drew their swords. Jani snorted.

"Well, Frans. You've followed your orders well. And _very_ promptly. Although I think your men have some discipline issues."

 _Wait._

That meant...

Jani continued to smile. Something in his eyes bothered him. Like he wasn't quite... normal.

"Hang on..."

"Yes, Frans?"

" _You're_ the missing piece?"

The boy shrugged. "If you like."

Halvor stepped forward. "Who _are_ you?"

"Jani. We've established this."

"I mean, are you here to help us with the Queen?"

The younger man's smile disappeared. "I am here, in these wild and.. damp places, for my family. To save the lost, and avenge the dead. But the Queen..." He scratched his ear. "No, I cannot trust her to take care of herself. So it's time to do what I do."

"As for who I am?" He executed a florid bow.

"I am Jani Marttila. You are traitors all, accomplices in the murder of King Rikhard, my father."

The old king's _son_? But, there was the young King Jalo, at the palace under lock and key, and the missing queen and princess...

"You're a bastard, then?" asked Ivar, running a whetstone across the edge of his blade. "Kaarlo would thank us for your beardless head."

Jani rolled his eyes, apparently unfazed by his imminent death. "Really? A bastard child? Is everyone in the world an imbecile, or am I actually _that_ good at passing?"

He drew his cutlass. "Regardless, the sentence is death. I hereby challenge you."

Stepping back into the rain, he snickered. "Don't bother screaming- no one will hear you in this storm."

"You arrogant little shit!" exclaimed Frans. "You're quick, but you can't fight six men."

Jani sighed, and tilted his head to one side. "No Arendelle folk here, silly boys. No cover to keep." The blue of his eerie eyes suddenly blazed brighter, glowing like embers in the darkness. "No holding back."

Frans' blood turned to ice. The creature before them issued a low, hissing, purring laugh, cold blue foxfire crackling in his gaze.

"What is he?" gasped the blond one.

Jani tutted. "A real Myrtleman would know me." He beckoned with his free hand. "Well, what are you waiting for? Stop rubbing your fannies together and come here."

The fight did not last long, in the end. Like falling off a cliff- rapid and ruinous and all seemingly out of Frans' control. He lunged forward with the others into the hammering rain, swinging and jabbing with their swords, hoping to overwhelm their challenger, only to find that he was never where Frans put his blade. Flailing wildly, he did not see the cutlass sink into his gut, or the foot which swept his legs out from under him.

Hitting the ground hard, he felt something go in his spine, not that it made any difference at this point. He was dying. Using his good hand to try and hold his insides in, he pulled himself up onto an elbow. He had not seen Jani kill him, but, blinking through the raindrops in his eyes, he could see him kill the others.

At the naval academy, in his youth, there had been an old sparring instructor- nearly seventy at the time. Wiry, white-haired, not a big man- but any recruit who had seen him with a sword knew to respect him, because he knew _everything_. Every thrust, and bind, and gambit was old news, every trick foreseen and countered, every motion practiced and refined to perfect precision.

Jani moved like that old man. Only somehow more so.

The boy blurred from victim to victim, parrying, slashing, darting unpredictably hither and thither. Like he had been fighting for a hundred years. No one could touch him, and one by one the others fell. Warriors of Myrtle, the terror of southern lands, cut down like wheat.

When it was over, the guide chirruped, and a hooded crow landed on his hand. Frans recognised the message holder it was wearing on its leg.

"You..." he gasped. "You changed the orders?"

Jani stepped over to him. "Still breathing. Fitting, in a way." He tickled the crow under its beak. "Your messengers are mine, I'm afraid."

Impossible.

 _But if it is..._

"You."

Jani nodded. "You see now."

 _"Crowlord?"_

"Aye."

"But... but..." Frans' vision was starting to swirl and distort. "We fight for _Myrtle_. To make her great again..."

Jani watched him splutter with cold, hard eyes. "You killed the King. For that _alone_ I would kill you. You made me fly into exile from my home, passing under my father's head as it stood on display, unavenged. For that alone I would make it slow."

He leaned over Frans, wiping his sword on his coat. Even in the rain, he smelt like charcoal and smoke. "You would kill a young woman in her sleep because she makes your master afraid. Something wonderful, like the world has never seen before, and she terrifies you all. For that alone I would strip you of your name and give you to my children."

Frans could no longer move, or speak. His vision was black.

"She wouldn't approve, I know. She is kind. She is sweet. Perhaps I would have been sweet. But there's a bitter seed inside of me, and it told me to cut you all down before you had the chance to move against me. It's normally right."

Cold, confused, and somehow alone, Frans died.

. .

* * *

. .

Jani nudged the body with his boot. Yes, Frans was dead. Disappointing that Niska was so curiously absent, but not a bad haul.

The crowlord raised his arms, and the birds descended. Many had gathered to feast on the wolves he had provided them, and so hundreds were now within his reach. They blackened the ground, glossy in the rain. Beautiful.

 _All right, boys, go to work. Leave no trace._


	13. Chapter 13- Anna & Kristoff

CHAPTER 13- Anna & Kristoff

. .

* * *

. .

 **Day 4, Morning**

Elsa sat still on a stool of blue ice, inside a house she had built to weather a rainstorm, listening to the odd noises filtering through the pale walls. There was a lot of shouting going on. She would have to go out and see what was going on- once Anna was done combing and plaiting her hair, obviously.

Her sister wasn't normally to be trusted with anything delicate, or fiddly, or indeed breakable, but she had great styling skills- Elsa supposed she needed to, given her own hair was so hard to tame. Elsa could barely get a brush through those copper tangles, yet Anna could get it all neat and presentable in under ten minutes.

"Anna?"

"Uh-huh?" She didn't sound like she was paying much attention, lost in the act of creation as she was.

"I have an awkward question to ask. About you and Kristoff."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you like the way Kristoff smells?"

Anna stopped what she was doing and leaned over so that she was face to face with Elsa's anxious left eyeball. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, sorry." Elsa shook her head. "That was the wrong way to put it. I mean, when you _like_ a guy, is it normal to notice, his, well, scent?"

Anna thought about this. "Right... you like Jani's cologne and you don't know whether that's weird or not."

Elsa didn't see much point in denying it. "Yes, basically. But it's other things too, like the smell of his jacket, and his hair, and... it all kind of melds together."

Anna continued running the comb through Elsa's thick and slightly wavy locks. "I'm glad you're admitting it now- and yes, I'm pretty sure it's normal. I didn't see why you were denying it anyway, when you'd go off and blatantly flirt with him right in front of me."

"Wait? What? When have I been 'flirting'?" She wasn't even sure _how_ to.

Anna looked at her incredulously. "Oh, how about, 'Hey, you like my dresses, pretty guide man? Well why don't I slip something on...'" She mimed tracing the outline of a ball gown on herself, while making unsubtle kissy faces at an imaginary figure in the middle distance. Elsa got the picture.

"Scandalous behaviour, my Queen... so, are you going to do anything about it?"

Anna had hit on a very good question. A queen and a commoner- she would have to make the first move, if anyone was going to. But did she want to? Was it remotely a good idea?

"Honestly Anna, I don't know. What do you think I should do?"

Anna didn't speak for a few moments, although Elsa could still feel her nimble fingers working.

"Hey, you know back before Kristoff and I got engaged?"

"Yes?"

"Well..."

* * *

 **Four months ago**

Anna stepped cautiously up to the door of the throne room, self-consciously pushing a loose lock behind her ear.

It was odd that she was still nervous going into part of her own home- after all, Elsa had said she was allowed to sit in mother's seat right next to her so long as she didn't cause any international incidents, but... actually, that was the problem. She could help her sister out socially, at diplomatic balls and definitely at anything less formal, but whenever she sat on one of the thrones she suddenly felt the suffocating weight of royal power on her shoulders- leaving her afraid to speak in case she accidentally passed a law.

Before she could enter, the door opened from within and the King of Evensong strode out, along with his own sister, Princess Kristin. The latest in a string of royal visitors...

"Oh!" she gasped, startled. Stepping backward without looking, she ended up bumping into a vase of spring flowers. Luckily Kristoff managed to catch the display before it hit the floor, and balanced it on its little table again, throwing her a knowing wink. _Smoothie_. He was well trained by now.

 _Let's try that again..._ "I mean, hello, King Konrad." She curtseyed. "And you too, Kristin."

Konrad bowed his large frame politely in greeting. He was a nice fellow, if a bit dull. "A pleasure to see you again, Princess Anna", he intoned in the lilting accent of his city. "Forgive my rudeness, but I cannot stop- I must see to the ship." With that he started off towards the harbour, a servant in tow.

Kristin smiled apologetically. "Always fussing, my brother. It's hard to believe we're related sometimes- why always worry about everything being 'just so', until you cannot enjoy life?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Well, I know what that's like."

Kristin chuckled. "Yes, I suppose so. Although Elsa is more fun than people think, when she's given the chance." She certainly looked like the King, however else they differed- the same black hair and black eyes, in spite of their fair northern complexions.

Anna rather liked her- she was quick to laugh and find the fun in things- although Anna had _sort of_ gotten angry at Kristoff the other night after catching him staring in the direction of her bodice once too often. She couldn't really blame Kristin for how she was built, though. Envy, perhaps- but then again, the Princess herself had confided over wine that _she_ envied Elsa's delicate slenderness. Clearly more bust did not equal more confidence.

"Are you sure you can't stay another day or two?"

Kristin hung her head in a play of grief. "Alas no, Konrad has business at home, and he's quite useless without me. But for now-" she kissed Anna on both cheeks- "Happy birthday in advance. Thank you for your offer, I won't forget it. Write me..."

Then she swept off after her brother. If everyone in Evensong was as friendly and cheerful as Kristin, or Oaken's family, it must be a lovely place to live.

"She was nice", sighed Kristoff. A firm, but loving elbow connected with his ribs. "Ow!"

Anna continued into the throne room, leaving Kristoff in the antechamber to reassess his boyfriend skills. She needed to speak to Elsa alone anyhow.

Her sister was seated in her royal throne, staring at the polished floor. She wasn't _slumping_ , exactly- whatever the chair or the occasion, Elsa always sat upright and poised as a ballerina- but her shoulders had dropped in a way Anna had come to recognise as signalling an attack of the blues.

Anna stepped up to sit in the throne beside her, but shied away at the last minute and instead sat down on the arm rest as if it were a bench. It was perfect- she got to sit down without feeling like she had turned into a branch of government- although Elsa gave her a funny look.

"So..." began Anna, "how do you think it... went?"

"It went really well, I guess", replied Elsa, although she sounded unconvinced. "We're on each other's Christmas card lists, we've negotiated an important wool trading alliance, and no one ate anything made by Olaf."

Oh yes. Anna remembered the 'pie' incident. She still thought the bad language used by that Marquis was uncalled for. "Princess Kristin had a great time. I said she should drop by again next time she's travelling east."

Elsa looked suddenly very guarded. "Um... you did?"

"Yes..." Anna tried to read Elsa's odd expression. "Wait, do you have a problem with her?"

Elsa groaned. "No, not... I don't know, maybe?"

Anna plonked herself down on her throne, forgetting its associations for the moment. "Sorry, I'm really confused. You seemed to be getting along so well at dinner last night. You were smiling and laughing at just about everything she said."

Elsa rubbed her arms. "That's sort of the point. I'd keep trying to get a conversation going with the King, and she was always just kind of there, all distracting, with jokes and winks and décolletage and- yes, she was just... distracting..."

Anna rolled her eyes. Her sister could be such a prickly pear. "Elsa, don't you think that maybe the King is just too boring to keep talking to? That's not her fault. He'd just keep going on and on about history and old books he'd read."

"I like history! _And_ books...", retorted Elsa with a frown. Sighing, she buried her face in her hands. " _Rrr_... do you think I'm being unfair?"

Anna had to laugh. "Hah! Obviously..." She poked her sister gently. "She said the loveliest things about you..."

Elsa blushed. "Well, I feel bad..."

Taking one of Elsa's hands in hers, she tried to think of the best way to explain her thoughts. "Look, Elsa... if a guy comes to visit you, and you feel you _should_ like him, but you keep finding you'd rather talk to his sister, you have to think 'Well, maybe he's just not the one for me'. Do you see what I mean?"

Elsa couldn't argue with that logic, and nodded sheepishly. Anna could almost see her sister mentally ticking yet another potential husband off her list.

"Anna, is there something wrong with me?"

The question took Anna a little by surprise, although it probably shouldn't have. Elsa always worried about things she didn't need to.

"No, no, Elsa. You've just had some bad luck so far. Give it some more time."

"A queen has a responsibility..."

"And the Queen doesn't need to worry about it right this minute. Elsa, I swear, somewhere out there is the right guy for you. Just have a little faith."

"The right guy for _me_. Quite..." Elsa's expression was unreadable again.

Anna slouched back on the throne. It actually wasn't so daunting to sit in when there were just the two of them in the room. "Yeah, and I'm still not seeing what was so distracting about Kristin's jokes when _Olaf_ made himself a beard out of chocolate ice cream."

Elsa snorted. "Oh, Olaf... So, what were you going to tell me before I started airing my neuroses?"

Anna found herself fidgeting with her hair again. "Oh, it's... I wanted to ask you about something. Kinda huge."

"What is it?"

"Well, things with Kristoff are going great, and I was thinking of maybe... proposing?"

"Oh..." Elsa's mouth made a perfect 'O' when she said it, like she was eating an invisible lollypop. Proposals were Big News.

"But I wanted to talk to you first."

"Are you worried about what happened last time?" Elsa shook her head. "It's okay, Anna. I know Kristoff. He's been here a while. He's a good man."

Anna smiled weakly. "Thanks, really. But..."

She swallowed nervously. "Do you think I should, then? Marry him?"

Elsa leaned back. "Wait, now _I'm_ confused."

"It's not that I don't... I love him. I'm sure I do. But you know me. I never look before I leap. I never think about what I'm doing until I've already done it."

She looked at the floor, contemplating the patterns the stained glass of the windows cast on the polished slats.

"Well, this is me looking before I leap. Thinking- for once. I want to be sure..."

An unexpected sound made her look up. Was Elsa _laughing_?

She was, in a weird kind of way, but she was also wiping tears away as they rolled down her cheeks. Her body was shuddering with laughter and sobs all at once.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry", spluttered Elsa. "It just hit me, the absurdity of the whole deal, the -huh- whole situation. You're asking me for advice. About _love_. And I'm... I'm your big sister, I -huh- should know how to help you. But I don't."

Anna hadn't realised this suitor business was getting to Elsa so badly... The laughter ended; Elsa brushed tears away, salt water dripping onto her lap and fusing with her clothes. Anna offered her hand- accepting it, her sister squeezed it tightly.

"Because I don't know anything about love. I know nothing at all."

* * *

"Okay, I remember all that", said Elsa, embarrassed at the memory of her outburst. "But how does that help now? I mean, I couldn't tell you anything..."

"I'm getting to that. Hold still, this bit is fiddly... there! Okay, well you were no use _at all_ , so once I'd calmed you down a bit I went to see the bishop..."

* * *

In the rosary behind the cathedral, the sun was shining, warming the crisp air of early spring. Bishop Halsing of Arendelle paused, secateurs grasped in a gloved hand, to consider what answer he could possibly give his young visitor.

"Gerda told me to follow my heart", Anna complained, shooing away one of the year's first bumblebees. "But that's the problem. I always do that anyway. I know what I _think_ I feel. But what if I'm wrong again?"

Ah, the sharp-elbowed prince from the Southern Isles. He would be a factor in her confusion, of course. The bishop hummed thoughtfully as he worked his way over a particularly neglected bush.

Roses were a fitting representation of love, he had always thought. They were in certain respects very enduring- armoured with sharp thorns, tough and difficult to uproot- yet they required so much on-going care to truly flourish, and such surprisingly small things, canker and fly, could kill them, or keep them from coming into full bloom.

"You are listening, right?" enquired the princess, sounding peeved. "Because I could always come back later."

He sighed, and placed the secateurs on the garden table, taking a seat beside the young woman on one of the little benches. She was one of those extremely active people who could never quite sit still, but fidgeted and looked about, and fiddled with her plaits. Watching her during Sunday services was enough to induce dizziness at times. Still, she was under his care, and had been ever since he had sprinkled water on her red, bawling face nearly nineteen years ago, and she had reciprocated by wetting the front of his robes. The infant princess Elsa, by contrast, had stayed silent and calm throughout her dedication, a baby with ageless sky-blue eyes, regarding him with solemn curiosity.

"Well", he began. "I cannot pretend to understand everything which happened last year. But it seems to me that you met Prince Hans at a time in your life when you were rather naive compared to now, and, dare I say it, vulnerable.

There are certain men- and I have seen this too many times- who get what they want by pretending to be a woman's dream come true. They appear in your hour of need and offer the world.

You felt trapped and alone in your life, due to your estrangement from your sister. Your head- and I hope you will forgive me for being blunt- was filled with foolish fairy tales of handsome princes who come to the rescue and make one happy forever. So it was almost inevitable that some rakish operator would choose to embody that particular golden calf, and that you would take his charm and promises at face value."

"I know. I'm an idiot." Anna kicked at the ground. "Is this going somewhere, Bishop?"

"What I want you to consider, your Highness, is this: Hans was a fraud, imitating an adolescent fantasy. He mimicked something you had long imagined. But did you ever imagine anyone like young Kristoff?"

Anna stopped moving. A small miracle. "Um, no."

"And do you have reason to believe, having known him for some months, that he hides his true nature to appear more impressive?"

Anna snorted. "Oh, my, no. Wow. If he were trying to impress me he'd probably not share his food with a reindeer right in front of me."

The Bishop removed his gardening gloves, folding them neatly and placing them beneath the pruning shears. "Quite. My point is, you never loved Hans, only the idea that he represented. Love, acceptance, a way out of your difficult family situation.

But Kristoff is not trying to look like anyone or anything other than Kristoff. He is precisely what he appears to be- indeed he is _relentlessly_ unpretentious in every respect. And no fairy tale or royal convention ever taught you to seek out someone like him. There is no story I am aware of wherein an ice cutter must rescue a princess from a dragon.

So if you like him, then perforce you like him for who he really is. The man himself, whom you have come to know, and care for."

Princess Anna slowly worked his words over in her mind, eyebrows twitching as she weighed up the implications.

"You're right", she, at length, concluded. "Kristoff is nothing I ever imagined as a girl, and I keep discovering new things to love in him, that the teenage me wouldn't ever have considered. And he's always upfront with me, even when he knows it'll get him into trouble..."

She leaped up from the bench. "I'm going to ask him to marry me! As soon as I can think of how to do it... thank you!" She gave the bishop an enthusiastic hug, and bounded out of the garden like an excitable puppy, leaving him to shake his head in weary amusement and return to tending his roses.

* * *

"I never knew about that", said Elsa, examining herself in the hand mirror. "He was right, you know. Kristoff is good for you. Thanks for doing my hair."

"He's the best, yeah..." Anna's expression turned slightly dreamy. "But do you see what I'm getting at, with your situation?"

Elsa shook her head. Under better circumstances Anna's point might well have been obvious, but broken sleep and the early start were making a fog of her thoughts, and it was hard to make connections between things.

"It's simple enough when you think about it. Do you like Jani for who he actually _is_ , good and bad, convenient and inconvenient, or are you _convincing_ yourself you like him because you've been trying so hard to find someone, _anyone_ that you're even halfway attracted to?"

It was an excellent question, actually- and a deeply troubling one. Elsa felt a pang of stress gnawing at her gut. Could she trust her own feelings in this matter?

"I... I don't know", she had to answer. _Why can nothing be simple?_

Anna nodded. "Well, wait until you _do_ know. Your pretty, pretty stabby man is going to be around for the whole journey. It can't hurt to ease off, see how you feel in a couple more days."

"You're right. Thanks Anna."

She stood up, and stepped to the door. The sound of heated conversation could still be heard beyond. "We _really_ should see what's going on out there..."


	14. Chapter 14- Her Victory, Part 1

CHAPTER 14- Her Victory, Part 1

. .

* * *

. .

When Elsa and Anna stepped out of the ice hall, they found the camp in a state of frantic activity, mostly Myrtlean activity. Soldiers were coming and going on horseback, shouting updates at each other. Some were in their own Marshlander dialect, possibly to avoid being picked up on by the Arendelle natives, but others she could understand. Someone was missing.

Her thoughts immediately went to Jani. She knew that he would go out and check a few miles of the road ahead during the night- dark and dangerous work at the best of times. Surely he wouldn't have gone out in that storm, and risked being washed away somewhere?

She shook off the thought. No point speculating and aggravating her anxiety- Rinne was standing just outside her door. The grey-whiskered captain seemed to be arguing with one of his soldiers- a thin, bald man.

"Then why would they take horses?"

"Horses but no supplies, Captain? What would they eat?"

Anna cleared her throat indiscreetly. The two Myrtlemen stopped their discussion and eyed their new audience awkwardly.

"Hold that thought, Lieutenant Niska..." Rinne waved the other man away and nodded to the royals.

"There's a bit of a situation, your Majesty. Half a dozen of our men have run off."

The lieutenant tried to raise an objection, but Rinne raised his hand. "They took their horses but nothing from the supply wagon, according to your old lady. They must have somewhere nearby to go." He gave his subordinate a dirty look. "Well, we either run with that or come up with some hocus-pocus theory where they got swallowed up in the night and their horses flew off to find them."

"These were good men! They wouldn't have run off!" Niska finally broke in. "We have to search for them!"

"Oh, that's exactly what we're doing", retorted Rinne, gesturing towards the approaching and departing horsemen. "And if we do find them, I look forward to gutting the little chicken-shits myself. We can't ease off on deserters, Niska. Not up here."

"Where's Jani", Elsa asked, trying to sound disinterested. Rinne and Niska both looked at her.

"I mean, might he not know where they could have gone?" She felt her cheeks growing warm. _No, don't blush..._ "He is the guide, after all."

Rinne shook his head. "He said he stayed in most of the night, and didn't see them go. Smart of them to use the rain, I suppose... Still, he might know about an old ruin around here, or something. I'll ask."

. .

* * *

. .

A few hours later, Jani led the party to the outskirts of what, nestled amid spindly pines and blue-needled spruces, was just identifiably a village. An all-purpose hall, storehouses, and a dozen or so weather-beaten pinewood hovels scattered about in no obvious pattern, next to a small river.

"I don't get it. Why would anyone even live up here?" The voice came from the proximity of Jani's right stirrup.

"It's a quarry town, Olaf", he explained. "They dig stone, make timber into rafts"- he pointed to a small saw mill- "and then float it downstream. At the river mouth another village collect the stone to move it by ship, and chop the rafts down into firewood." He was starting to worry about the snowman. It was bad enough that he was now basically blackmailing bedtime stories out of him, but if he hung around Jani all the time people would start to notice.

It would all be moot soon, though. He couldn't hide much longer. But Rinne was insistent on not bringing the sisters into their confidence yet. It was too big a secret to keep, the old man thought. And they were still outnumbered.

"This is the only settlement nearby?" Niska was riding up front with them today, rather than glowering from the rear as usual. It was difficult to be civil with a man Jani had honestly hoped to kill the night before, but his partial victory was still fresh and sweet on the palate, and he found he could be patient.

"The only one. There's not much to see"- he pointed at one of the huts by way of an example- "so I wasn't going to have us stop here unless we had an emergency."

"Where is everyone?" asked Olaf.

They looked around at the houses. It was true- not a soul in sight.

Olaf ambled up to the nearest house and tapped on the door. "Uh, hello? We're looking for some people, wondering if you can help us? They were big and hairy, and had swords, and used interesting words like bilge, and 'Avast!', and pish, and short-arse, and-"

"Olaf!" Elsa looked mortified. Jani thought it was best not to mention that Olaf had probably learnt one or two of the worse words from him...

Niska grew even more agitated. "Someone must be here. Someone must know..." He rode up to the same house and rapped a gloved knuckle hard against the panels of the door. "Hello in there? This is the army. Open up in... the name of the Protector!"

There was no response. Niska shoved at the door with his foot. "It's barred. They're hiding inside."

"This is all wrong..." said Elsa, echoing all of their thoughts. "What could have happened?"

A child's scream pierced the damp air. Every head turned towards a small figure disappearing fast up a roughly paved track which twisted uphill and out of sight.

"Stop! Stop there!" Niska set off after the child, barking orders as if they were a conscript. Anna set off after him, shouting for him not to frighten the fleeing urchin; Elsa and the others followed her. Jani and Rinne exchanged a weary look before following suit. How calm some little poker from a stone pit was supposed to be when facing down a cavalry charge seemed to have escaped everyone's minds.

Up ahead Niska and Anna seemed to have stopped. Jani saw why when he drew up beside them.

They had followed the child right into the main quarry.

Dozens of large, muscular men stood and looked at them. The kid, a ragged boy of maybe twelve, disappeared into their midst.

"Why aren't they quarrying?" asked a familiar snowman-like voice.

Another excellent question. The quarry, a deep, grey, semi-circular scar in the hillside which they had ridden right into, should be a bustle of laborious activity in the middle of the day.

But while they were men there- a lot of men- none were cutting, shaping, or doing anything much rock-related. Jani spotted a couple of card tables.

One of the villagers, a leader of some sort, stepped forward.

"Well, visitors!" he boomed, twisting a lengthy sandy-brown beard between his fingers. "What did you hope to find here?"

Niska spoke before anyone else could. "Have a number of soldiers, dressed and equipped like myself, come through here in the past day?"

"Why are they armed?" whispered Olaf to Jani, as they watched an amused village chief insist to the lieutenant that his lost men had not passed through, nor had anyone. With a twiggy hand he pointed to the sword strapped to the man's side.

Another excellent point- the snowman was on fire today. Or some more appropriate metaphor. Fighters were needed up in wolf-and-bear-and-bandit-and-God-knows-what-else territory, of course. But an awful lot of the workers seemed to have weapons to hand...

Niska finally seemed to concede defeat. "Enough... if you know nothing there is no point in us being here. We will leave you to your quarrying."

At this, the leader chuckled, a rich, sonorous sound which was oddly grandfatherly and sinister all at once. "Quarrying? We're not quarrymen." His smile became a sneer.

Jani quietly slipped off his horse and began to move forward toward Elsa, who had already dismounted. Passing Rinne, he tapped the pommel of his sword silently; the old man nodded. Several more villagers appeared on the quarry ridge overlooking them, training bows on the newcomers. The child had, indeed, led them into a trap.

"The other villages are shut down", the chief continued. "Our collectors all got drafted for the army. Like you lot don't take enough already. No money, no gear, no point in cutting stone that just sails out to sea on the raft."

He raised his hands apologetically. "So we decided to be bandits."

Above them, Jani's sharp eyes could see bowstrings tightening. He decided to take the initiative.

"Well, you have to eat. But are you sure you want this fight?" he asked, sidling up next to the Queen. "Even if we lose, you'll certainly not get out alive."

"Shut up, damn it!" snapped Niska. Jani offered him the finger but didn't bother looking at him.

"You don't think so?" chuckled the chief. "A dozen archers up there, two score down here with swords and spears. I think I quite like my chances." He looked the royals up and down. "Spare the women, lads. I'd wager they'll ransom well."

"Six more men would be handy about now", muttered Rinne.

Jani looked at Elsa sadly. "I'm sorry, Elsa."

She stared back at him, uncomprehending.

"So..." Jani rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ice roof? Maybe now?"

"Oh... yes, of course!"

Rotten as he felt for having led Elsa into more danger, it was incredibly gratifying to witness the shouts, screams, and hilarious shocked and terrified expressions of the workers-turned-bandits as a thick crust of ice began to spontaneously form over their heads, rapidly blocking out the sky and shielding those down in the quarry from the archers up above. Jani could hear a couple of hard chinks as some of the bowmen loosed their arrows too late, only for them to bury themselves in Elsa's barrier.

They looked pretty scared. Perhaps they would back off and let the party leave. Stranger things had-

"Witch! Kill the witch!"

Or not.

"She'll destroy us all! Charge, before it's too late!" That was the chief, picking himself up off the ground. _Leave her be!_ Reeking of fear, anxious to project strength. _Shut up!_

Then his blade was in the man's head almost to the hilt. He felt a fine red mist speckle his own face, as a golden beard turned red. The other bandits, running at them now with swords and axes and spears jabbing. Some of them must have seen his eyes as his blood caught fire. Indiscreet. He didn't care. His heart hammered like a hundred war drums. They would not touch Elsa.

The first two to come for her learnt this swiftly and painfully. One broad, swinging stroke sliced the heads from both their pikes; with a second, Snake opened them both at the throat. More indiscretion- no sword should be that sharp.

He heard a gasp behind him; he wheeled about in panic- Elsa was not fighting. Just standing there, amid the raging battle. Staring at him. He tried to reach for her, to tell her to please _defend herself_ , but something terrible happened.

She shrank back, just a little. Was she afraid? Of _him_?

Then something hit him.

. .

* * *

. .

NOTE: This chapter is split, as it goes on way too long.


	15. Chapter 15- Her Victory, Part 2

CHAPTER 15- Her Victory, Part 2

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa stood there, as battle exploded all around her, trying to will some movement into her frozen limbs. The chief bandit's body connected with the ground with an incongruous wet _slap_ , like a sack of offal. She was no fool, and understood what soldiers sometimes had to do, _intellectually_ , but the shock of seeing a human being turning into a corpse right in front of her eyes had knocked the breath out of her. It was different from wolves.

The man's cries and accusations still rang in her ears. She _wasn't_ a witch. Gothel, who stole her aunt and uncle's baby- _that_ was a witch. Not Elsa. She forced herself to release the breath she was holding; tiny snowflakes glittered in the air.

Fresh from ripping the life out of two more villagers- to protect _her_ , she realised- Jani wheeled about and looked straight at her. He was a shocking sight- blood streaked his beautiful face, and he bore his teeth like a predator. More now than ever before, Elsa realised what an aura of _danger_ Jani radiated. He moved through the fight like a shark in a word of tuna fish. Did that... scare her?

His vivid eyes locked with hers, and his expression changed. Something she couldn't identify.

Then a table slammed into Jani's head and shoulders, knocking them both sprawling onto the ground together. A couple of the bandits had seen how lethal Jani was with his sword and decided just to ram him.

Elsa sprang up, panic dissipating from her body as adrenaline started to take hold. A whole group of villagers charged at her with knives and other weapons, bellowing and howling.

Jani was still finding his feet, clambering from under the heavy work table; pulling him away, she cast with the other hand. A column of ice shot out of the ground, catapulting the table back into half a dozen of their attackers and sending them flying across the quarry.

Looking around, she saw the two Arendelle guardsmen valiantly defending Anna, as they had been instructed. _Now where-_

Half-seeing a movement out of the corner of her eye, she ducked away from another bandit swinging an axe, avoiding the blow by inches. An unkind but very practical part of her reflected that it would have been better to bring Marshmallow on this trip rather than Olaf.

That gave her an idea. A giant icy fist shot out of the ground and closed around the axeman, trapping him. She did the same to two others, glad to have a way to immobilise them without killing everyone in the town.

Jani recovered his wits and his sword, and they rushed over to help Anna. One of her soldiers had fallen. Elsa realised that she didn't know his name. The other was fending off a pair of spearmen, and her sister... Anna had picked up a sword, and was hammering furiously against the guard of a bandit who, while a large, hairy and ferocious looking man, seemed to be taken aback at how much fire the red-headed nineteen year-old had brought to bear on him. A large block of ice to the head brought him down. Anna immediately made to dive back into the battle, but Jani grabbed her.

"Get off me!"

"What are you doing?! Stay with the guard!"

"I can fight!"

"One lesson! You've had _one_ lesson!"

Anna barely blinked. "Yeah? One lesson more than them!"

Jani groaned with exasperation- so did Elsa.

The battle in the quarry seemed to be nearing its end, in any case. _Wait- weren't there archers?_ The remaining fighters had grouped together like cornered rats, huddled against the scarred rock face, spear points still waving and jabbing at the air, while a ring of Myrtlean soldiers closed in on them.

"Wait!" she shouted, running up with Jani and Anna trailing in her wake. There were enough dead bodies on the ground already. There must be widows. There must be more children like the one they'd followed.

She took a deep breath. "Enough." With a wave of her hand, a wall rose up around the cornered would-be raiders, sealing them against the rock in a tiny, uncomfortably cold prison.

Things went quiet for a second. All the soldiers looked slightly confused at the battle ending so abruptly.

Niska smacked his palm against the ice and glared at her. "How do we get to them now?"

Elsa was out of patience for today. "You don't _have_ to. They won't be able to get out for hours, and then they'll just want to lie next to a warm fire. Like this guy." She pointed to one of the men she had cast a giant fist around. He didn't seem to notice the attention- he just slumped in its frigid grip, shivering and whimpering slightly.

Niska raised his sword to the captive's throat. "We should finish these off, just to be safe."

"Only by _her_ leave." Rinne had just marched up, gripping an arrow which was lodged in his side. So there _were_ archers. It didn't seem to be troubling him- perhaps it was not deep.

Niska snarled. "Those rules are for us, not _them_."

Jani stepped up beside Elsa. "Doesn't matter. Her victory, her decision." Butterflies stirred in her stomach.

The Myrtlemen sheathed their weapons, looking vaguely annoyed.

"Um, Jani?" said Anna. "Did you know you still have blood all over your face?"

They left the town having lost three more Myrtlean soldiers, and one Arendelle guardsman who called himself Bernt, according to Anna. She was good with names. A couple of others were wounded, but Rinne and some others had kept the non-combatants safe when the archers had descended and attacked the rear. It could have been much worse...

. .

* * *

. . **  
**

"What happened to the horses? Six men missing, six horses missing. But if _you_ did the men..."

Seated on a rock, Rinne scratched at a jowl, looking about them with a complete lack of interest. The party had stopped to rest atop a hill, and Jani could see for miles inland, to where mountains rose commandingly into the sky like black and white towers, and cold mountain forests swept down their lower slopes in jagged tapestries of blue and green. It was such a waste- he'd learnt long ago that Rinne had no real aesthetic sense.

"Keep your voice down..." Jani leant in to explain. "One of the boys meeting Frans was supposed to be watching the horses that shift. With him put in the boneyard, I could sneak over and untie a few. I had my crows chase them off to the north; hopefully they'll not run into wolves, but it was the best I could do for them."

"You feel bad for the horses?"

"I like horses. They didn't choose any of this."

Rinne looked around again, looking uneasy. "What's up, Ukko? Are they on to us?"

"No. Well, yes, but no more than before. Niska's nervous but not desperate, and probably confused. Pretty well a perfect result, if we hadn't just followed his stupid arse into another fight." Rinne cleared his throat awkwardly. "We need to talk about something else."

"Oh?"

 _Supplies? Route? Plans for the next time a supernatural entity tries to eat one of us?_

"What exactly is going on with you and the Queen?"

 _Ah._

"What do you mean?" responded Jani, making the mistake of trying to play dumb.

Rinne looked into his eyes for a moment, then scowled. "Oh, _shite._ You fancy her, don't you? And she... you bloody nincompoop."

Jani suddenly had a mouth full of half formed excuses and explanations which did not quite form sentences. In the end he went with "I'm... sorry?"

Rinne pulled himself to his feet. "I swear to God, Jani, I've got ulcers coming and I'm thinking of naming them after both of you." He pointed back to camp. " _She_ decides whether we get out of this alive. Whether we get Myrtle back from the forsworn backward scum who put the knife to your father. Not Corona, not Celestine, not our piss-wading kin out east. They don't care. They'll all _die_ not caring."

He flicked a finger at Jani's chest, causing him to flinch back. He wasn't used to the old man getting this upset. "Your father managed, by a miracle, to find _one_ ally for Myrtle. And you've set her up for the worst surprise of her life. She's the _queen_ , Jani. She wants a wedding, and a troupe of little blond princes, all respectable."

Damn it, he was right. Jani's heart imploded a little.

Yet he could not quite let go of his doubts.

"What if she _doesn't_ want that?"

Rinne looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and pity, which felt a lot worse than his anger. "Jani, come back to reality. She thinks you're a man."

 _How could he-_ Suddenly Jani had a grip on Rinne's collar and his nose up against his face, almost pulling the Captain over.

"You bastard", he breathed, his voice hissing like a snake's rattle.

Rinne closed his eyes. "Sorry, lad. I get it. I always got it. But... oh, you know full well what I mean. This isn't some barmaid you can flirt with then pretend it was a joke."

Jani released him and looked away. He regretted grabbing him, but couldn't quite bring himself to apologise. "It wasn't like that. It _isn't_ like that."

"Queen Elsa has a dynasty to carry on. Oh, come on, _you're_ the toff after all- you should know this stuff better than I do." Rinne threw up his hands. "So _even if_... well."

Jani didn't have the energy to argue. He sat down heavily on a rock, running his hands through his hair.

 _Why am I losing my head? Only a girl I just met. With hair like sunshine on snow, and a mind which weaves... beautiful things out of the air, and a soul she hides like a shivering candle flame between the fingers, bright and precious... God I'm tired..._

"You know Ukko, we can't keep this up much longer. It's only a matter of time before I change again. Then there'll be no hiding."

"How long do you think..."

Jani snorted. "You _know_ I never know. I should have packed mascara."

"Is there any way at all to control it?"

"Not exactly." Jani waved a hand in front of his own eyes. "I normally only switch when I sleep, so I've been staying awake at night. But I can only do that for a couple more days. From then, all bets are off."

Rinne looked at him uneasily. "Is that healthy?"

"Of course not! Changing is part of who I am." He stifled a yawn. "Too much of this and I'll go crazy."

Rinne looked at him a moment, then shook his head. "No, too easy..."

Jani gave him a dirty look. He blinked back at him innocently.

"Hey, Ukko. What would our chances be if Niska threw down right now?"

Rinne frowned. "Ten men against us and the Queen's sister. We'd stand a good chance if he fought clean, but he wouldn't. He'd know to go after the soft targets- the servants and all. And you're not arrow-proof. _Or_ table-proof."

 _Us and Anna?_ "What about the Queen?"

Rinne looked to the south. "Nice mountains. Very poetical." He looked sideways at Jani. "She scares him, Jani. He'd kill her first, right at the start."

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Well, as the old drunk guy said in that song, something's gotta give.

Incidentally, while not always as sharply binary as in Jani's case, bigender identity is an actual thing, and fascinating to read about. There is, however, no known correlation with crow powers.


	16. Chapter 16- Rough Night

CHAPTER 16- ROUGH NIGHT

 _"_ _But what about my powers?"_

 _Young Elsa stared at her hands, gloved in soft, pale felt as they always were._

 _King Agnarr took them in his and placed a little kiss on her fingertips. "You can learn to control them in time. Just keep trying."_

 _Normally Gerda or a tutor took her classes in the castle library, but Mamma and Pappa had wanted to give this particular lesson themselves, which is why she found herself sitting on a cushion in the great chair in Pappa's study, behind a desk she could still barely rest her arms on._

 _Pappa continued the lesson. "You know that before I was king, my father ruled Arendelle- your grandfather." He gestured to a large portrait of a bearded man, staring seriously down on them from the study wall. "Well..." he took a breath, "Someday, when you are much older, I won't be... here... anymore. Then you will be Queen, and will govern Arendelle in my place."_

 _Elsa nodded. This was a fact her tutors reminded her of most days, especially if they felt she was losing focus. It didn't make her cry anymore._

 _"_ _Now, a Queen has an important responsibility, apart from ruling. Some day you will marry a man from another kingdom- probably a prince, but that's a whole other lesson about politics..."_

 _"_ _Aggie..." Mamma interrupted with a smile. She knelt by the desk and looked caringly into Elsa's eyes. "Your father means, Elsa, that one day you are going to have children. It is your responsibility to continue the House of Arendelle into the next generation, just as it was mine."_

 _Elsa looked at the textbooks on the desk. It was all very strange. Her? And a prince? And... ew. Ew._

 _"_ _But I don't even like boys..." It was true._

 _Queen Iduna glanced knowingly at her husband, and patted her daughter's gloved hand. "Lots of girls still don't like boys at your age, Elsa. You'll grow out of it in time, trust me."_

 _The thought unsettled her. Elsa frowned, and pushed the book away. Pappa tutted and frowned in that terrible way he did. Mamma looked upset. She had that wrinkle between her brows that meant Elsa had been bad. Her heart started to pulse. Oh no, had she been bad?_

 _"_ _Elsa..." she said, shaking her head. "I need you to be a good girl for me. Can you do that?"_

 _There was no escape. The scene continued just as it had all those years ago. "Yes Mamma", Elsa said. "I'll be a good girl."_

 _A kiss on the forehead. The warmth of her mother's breath. The last time they ever touched._

 _There was a knock at the study door, and Elsa heard Mara's voice asking to be let in._

 _The Queen went to open the door, and Elsa's only childhood friend came in, carrying tea and snacks on a tray. Elsa kept her a secret from Mamma and Pappa. They would only worry about her losing control and hurting the servant girl. But she was never scared playing with Mara. And she had golden blonde hair, almost the same as hers._

 _Mara placed the tray down, and smiled at Elsa. But something was wrong, because Mara was dead. Her skin was whitish grey, blotched and glistening._

 _Her eyes were the same black as the draug's._

 _Betrayal. Raising arms with fingers hooked like claws, pointing, accusing, the creature that was no maid rushed at her. Teeth gnashed at her soul._

 _Elsa screamed._

* * *

Sitting bolt upright in a bed made of ice, with a few furs thrown over it, Elsa looked around herself in confusion. It was dark, but the luminosity of the walls created an otherworldly twilight. Slowly her disorientation passed, as she adjusted to her waking state. It was the present day. She was in an ice house up in the mountains. It had just been another nightmare. She tried to normalise her breathing, which was coming in fitful gasps. It felt like she had a horse sitting on her chest. _Okay, in through the nose_...

Anna cleared her throat. "Ahem. Elsa, we need to talk about this."

Elsa hadn't noticed her come over and sit on the bed, but her nerves were so rattled already that she didn't jump. "I'm sorry, Anna", she gasped. "I didn't mean to wake you."

She couldn't make out Anna's expression in the dim light, but her younger sister did put her arms round her, drawing her in for a warm hug.

"I'm not angry, Elsa, I'm worried", she murmured into her shoulder. Ever since we set out, I've been hearing you thrashing about in your sleep. And now you're waking up making strange noises... Goodness, you're shaking..."

"It was just a nightmare..." Elsa was already struggling to recollect what the dream had involved. Pappa and... something. As the world came in, the dream world slipped away. But she was pretty sure it was one she'd had more than once.

"So you get them a lot? You never let on..."

Elsa thought about it. "I think I've always had nightmares." _Ever since the accident, when I started sleeping alone._ "But they've been getting much worse over the last couple of months."

"I-" Anna started to speak, then hesitated. "I was _going_ to say that you should take a holiday, but then I remembered where we are."

"It was supposed to be a relaxing break at Rikhard's court", Elsa reflected forlornly. "We were going to play chess. In person, instead of by letter. He had a set he said belonged to the last Emperor."

Anna shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, I guess. I was going to check out the sailing ships. You know, climb the rigging, maybe wear an eyepatch to get the full experience." She yawned into Elsa's ear. "Hah! Float your boat... that was nearly a joke... hum..."

"Anna..." Releasing Anna from what had been a very long hug, Elsa lay back on her bed, feeling lethargy take hold now her nerves had settled. "I'm pretty sure wearing an eyepatch up here would be _kind of_ racist. Besides, you know they don't let women or girls on their ships."

"Yeah, it's really dumb." Anna got up, groaning softly. "Do you think you can sleep now? It's still ages until breakfast."

"Uh huh..." Elsa closed her eyes, feeling herself sinking back down, dissolving into the strange weightlessness of sleep. She was _ever_ so tired...

* * *

 _The dead ship lurched, as high winds caught the sails and drove swollen waves high athwart the hull. The boy did not stagger. He walked like an old sea dog now; the sailors in his blood had taught him._

 _He had awoken in the darkness of the hold, near to fresh water and away from the worst of the stink. Still a he- to be certain he had looked at himself as long as he could bear. Bound and tucked away, fair hair bunched up under a cornered hat, he steeled himself to walk up onto the deck, clutching the captain's sword._

 _The weather had been warm, as much as it ever was. Nearly three days in, the crew were turning black, glistening, soft. Something sticky gathered around them, pooling, as blood and more decayed. Flies buzzed amid the choking stench. How were there flies at sea? Do we bring them with us?_

 _Trying not to look at the bodies, the boy checked the tiller. He had fastened it with ropes, but it might have slipped in the night. The ship had drifted, but still bore west. So long as it did, he would reach some part of Myrtle. Without a crew, he couldn't do much more than run aground. Pity that... closing his eyes, he could sort of feel the timbers. It wasn't something he could quite put a name to._

 _A voice sounded in his head, and the ship's crow landed on the rail next to him._

 _"Echo?"_

 _Echo. Echo._

 _"Hello Echo."_

 _Hello. Hello._

 _He pulled some seal meat out of a packet in his pocket and gave the crow a strip, which he gratefully devoured. He'd been working at the bodies, but they were probably getting less appetising now. Don't look at them. Nose stung. Hands itched to be washed again._

 _But... he'd eaten seal with someone else... not now... and Echo... Echo was gone..._

 _Jani? Jani?_

* * *

"Jani?"

Jani opened his eyes. Olaf was staring into them.

Had he slept?

He was still sat by the fire, legs crossed. The eastern sky was a marbling of pink and grey, although the sun was not yet visible. Apricot was asleep on his knee; he had been planning the route with her. They were nearly at the bay...

Rubbing his eyes, he mentally checked himself. Still Jani. Yes, he still had time.

"Hello Olaf? Can't sleep again?"

The little snowman nodded. "Anna and Elsa were talking. That woke _me_ up, and then I couldn't drop off again."

He rubbed his chin- or at least, the patch of snow below his mouth. "You know, if you stayed with us, you could tell them stories as well. Then everyone could sleep better."

A dozen potential disasters immediately presented themselves to Jani's imagination. That, and Rinne's parting words the previous evening- _Kid, if you actually give a damn about her, you'll keep your distance for now..._

He shook his head quickly. "No can do. I need to be up a lot of the night, and I need my privacy. Anyway, the queen and the princess can't have strange boys staying in their ice... buildings."

"Why?"

"Um..." Jani internally debated the merits of giving Olaf 'the talk'. No, definitely not. "...Maybe ask Elsa?" _Yeah, she'll thank me for that..._

It was time to change the subject. Jani rubbed his hands together.

"Okay, a story, was it? You'll love this one..."

* * *

 **The next morning**

"Are you feeling alright?"

Jani was talking to her... Elsa tried to shake the cobwebs from her brain. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"You're barely awake."

"Oh, right. I had a rough night. Travel doesn't really agree with me." Elsa tried not to think about her nightmares. Having got to sleep again she had ended up in some surreal dream where she was dancing at her own coronation, with a figure composed of Jani's head on Princess Kristin's body. It had been confusing on all manner of levels.

Come to think of it, Jani was showing some signs of wear... "How about you? Are you sleeping okay?"

The scout yawned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not really. Working out and checking the route is kind of a job for three people, so I'm busy a lot of the night. Lucky it's light for most of it."

The party rode in silence for a while. While those leading the party were comfortable enough in each other's company- now that the abrasive Lieutenant Niska had returned to glowering at them from twenty feet back- conversations on the road tended to be punctuated by periods of an hour or more where everyone would just trot along, watching the landscape and, certainly in Elsa's case, trying not to let the situation overwhelm them.

While she had spent a great deal of time with her sister and her creations over the past year, and her royal duties often required her to confer with courtiers, or meet with burghers and other prominent citizens, or entertain foreign dignitaries, she had found it necessary to spend a certain amount of each day alone with her thoughts. Important as family and friends were, without peaceful solitude in which to collect herself and unwind, the pressure of everyone's expectations quickly wore at her nerves. And a moment's loss of control could... it didn't bear thinking about.

These quiet spells were about the best she could manage up here- and she was glad of them. They offered some of the tranquillity of a ride by herself, but with the comfort of Anna and Olaf's company, and the further comfort- considering the various dangers she had to contend with- of being within ten feet of Jani. Aside from the fact that his general presence was... good for her morale, she had seen him in action enough to know that her survival chances were far better with him at her side, scaring off the beasts and cut-throats. Granted, she wasn't entirely sure she wasn't slightly afraid of him herself, but... was there such a thing as being a _good_ kind of scared?

But then again... maybe she shouldn't get too invested. She couldn't be sure how he felt, for one, and the whole Hans disaster showed how bad an idea it was to rush into this kind of thing. And she also had to think of her station. Yes, he _was_ devilishly pretty, and strangely well-read and witty for some boy in a much-repaired old coat who guided mountain travellers, but consort material?

She hadn't told Anna just how much grumbling there had been from the council after her engagement to Kristoff had been announced. Dissenting voices had been placated, with much talk of 'heroism' and 'new blood' to counter the more negative mumblings about 'peasants', 'urchins', and 'hygiene'; however that had all been achieved under the unspoken assumption that the crown would not pass to Anna and Kristoff's offspring, but Elsa's own. If _she_ were to bring a commoner home as well, and a foreigner into the bargain...

She felt kind of rotten when she thought that way, but what option had she? A queen had responsibilities, after all.

"Elsa?"

Jani had broken his silence. "Yes?"

He looked embarrassed. "I thought I should thank you for saving my neck the other day- you know, after I got knocked down."

Jani was grateful to her. That felt... good. Although _he_ must have kept _her_ from dying half a dozen times already, many more if each wolf counted individually. "Don't mention it", she decided to reply. "And... thanks for sticking up for me, with Niska."

Jani shrugged. His expression was guarded, hard to read, but something clearly troubled him.

"It shouldn't have been needed", he muttered. "I can be better- I ought to be better. But I get distracted, make mistakes, lose my head."

He looked at her, and there was something sad in his eyes.

"I am sorry, you know."

She asked him what about. He didn't really answer, only looked to the road ahead.

A little while later he stopped the party and pointed ahead. "That... could be a problem."

Their path seemed to be the same kind of winding, rocky scrub between angular chunks of grey mountain they had been passing through all day. Elsa peered into the distance. "I don't see it. What am I looking for?"

Jani rummaged in his pockets and retrieved a pocket telescope. Elsa took it, and tried to follow the line of his finger. "See there? Between the peaks?"

She saw it- saw _them_ , and immediately felt her heart begin to pulse. Strewn along a hundred-yard stretch of their path, like scattered caltrops, were dozens of stone barrows.

Lowering the telescope, she focused on keeping her breathing steady and _not_ thinking about the sound of Olaf screaming.

 _Think, Elsa. Solve the problem. Don't panic_. For a moment, frost whispered its way up the body of the telescope in her hands, and then it retreated. She was in control.

"Is there another way through?"

Jani frowned. "It's the only passable road into the bay from here. On foot, we could maybe clamber around, or sneak under through the water caves. But with supply carts and horses? I don't think so..."

* * *

NOTES:

Okay, the next chapter will be coming as soon as I can write my way out of this.

My standard hours have gone up at work, and I may end up doing a bunch of extra hours over December-January to cover for an absence. I can't complain, since they'd pay me well for them and I need the cash, but just so you know, if my productivity gets really bad over the next month or two, don't worry, it isn't me giving up or losing interest. My health kind of fluctuates as well. Best to get my excuses in early.


	17. Chapter 17- Teeth and Ambitions Bared

CHAPTER 17- TEETH AND AMBITIONS BARED

* * *

Ravens called across the cloudy skies over the shipyards, like the death rattles of a thousand angry souls. Myrtle was perhaps unique among the northern kingdoms in that her harbours had no gulls. The crows ate them.

There was symbolism in that, somewhere... Kaarlo watched workers milling over fluyts, frigates, pinnaces and sloops of every variety, refitting for war. All ships of Myrtle were armed, and moreover all sailors, but there was still much to be done to make ready.

He rolled his shoulders around. The coat still didn't sit right. Blasted tailor. Bad as the first one.

A warrior's instinct caused him to look back, and he caught Sulo stepping up behind him, soft-soled as he always did. Gratifying- he was sick of being startled by the weak little man.

"My Lord?"

Kaarlo nodded. "Report."

Sulo looked down over a set of papers he was carrying. "The captains in charge of whipping the conscripts into shape are making progress. Equipment supplies are strained, but that problem will solve itself once production recovers. On that subject, incidentally, it would be good if you could sign this." He handed Kaarlo a writ and a pen.

More execution orders. Kaarlo scrawled his signature across the page. "Who this time?"

"The officers who managed the press-gangs. They impressed men working in vital industries- as if we can fight a war without iron-forgers or woodcutters. It's already put our preparations far behind schedule."

Kaarlo growled, moustaches twitching. Best that these officers serve as an example of the consequences of stupidity.

"What of the hold-outs? The rebels?"

Sulo shook his bald head. Since the takeover, keeping the nobility in line had been as simple as promises of wealth. But the common rabble had been another matter. There had been jeers from the midst of crowds, food thrown at soldiers, and posters of their glorious Lord Protector had been defaced in every fashion imaginable. The kind of thing one normally ignored from the peasantry, only yesterday a guard post had been burnt down. They could not afford to let rebellion take root. Not now.

"No news. I doubt it will amount to much- a residual misplaced loyalty to the Marttila name. Half the villages in the uplands probably still don't know what is happening."

"Could they be sheltering the queen and princess?"

His factotum raised an eyebrow. "In a fishing hovel? That would be something to see. Regardless, men are scouring the landscape ever further afield. They could be hiding underground with the dwarves and we'd still track them down eventually."

Sulo's face twitched in that anxious way it did. "My Lord Protector... When we have recovered the princess, and there is no longer any need of the young king Jalo. Have you... decided?"

Kaarlo took a deep breath. "Yes. And you are right, it is necessary to make a clean break. Ensure stability within Myrtle as we strike outward." He grimaced.

"You seem troubled, sir."

"Shouldn't I?" Kaarlo scowled. "It should be enough to kill a wolf and have done with it, without drowning the pups."

"Sometimes one must."

"I know. I held them as children, Sulo. Now I must take a knife to the son and-" ...his face twisted in distaste... "-marry the daughter? All so I can take their father's place. It has to be done. But I shouldn't like it."

"The princess..." Sulo rubbed his chin. "I understand she is a beauty, my Lord. Surely that is some compensation..."

Kaarlo glared at him. "I am no short-finger, little man. Besides, that girl was always... odd. Always talking back when she was little, running about, swinging her fists like a boy. Foul mouth. Brattish, defiant."

Personally, he had always suspected the little nightmare was touched in the head. _Her grandfather was peculiar as well... perhaps the Marttilas have grown over-bred._ "Then again, any horse can be broken..."

Sulo shuffled his papers. "As you say, my Lord. We still await further news from the Snow Queen's escort. Although there is an interesting report-"

At that point they were interrupted by an agitated soldier, who ran up puffing like a damn fool and then handed Sulo a note.

Sulo read down the page and paled. "My Lord, I- I'm not sure how..." He had a nervous, evasive look Kaarlo knew to distrust.

 _Enough of this faffing about..._ "Well?" Kaarlo demanded. "Out with it man!"

"It's the young king, sir. News from the castle- he's... gone."

* * *

An hour later, Kaarlo stood in the young king's chambers, his polished black boot planted firmly on the neck of the chief gaoler. Sprawled across a fine rug of black and blue pattern, the wretch squealed like a sow as his Lord Protector pressed harder, twisting his heel into the flabby wattle of his throat.

"Explain to me again. When the entirety of your role, your purpose in this mortal world, is to lock up whomever I SAY!" Hobnails ground gratifyingly into skin. The gaoler whimpered. "Explain, please do, how you could allow that boy out of your _protective custody_."

"He was broken out!" the old man protested, weeping pathetically. "The guards at the door were caught by surprise!"

Sulo leaned over the desperate figure, inspecting him unsympathetically. "That doesn't explain how he got off this floor of the castle. Unless he had help..." A knife appeared from somewhere on Sulo's person, now pointed at the gaoler's eyeball.

"I swear I don't know anything! This part of the castle's not built for security... please..."

Kaarlo beckoned one of the guards over, and gestured for his pike. Grasping it in both hands, he held it poised over the incompetent officer's heart.

"And I swore, idiot, that it would be your life if you let him out of your care."

He brought the spear down. There was a wet crunch as the breastbone gave way.

It stopped the whimpering. Good.

Kaarlo handed the guard back his weapon. "The rebels must have someone here. Whoever stole away the queen and the princess arranged for Jalo's escape."

He turned to Sulo. "Find out who saw the boy. Captain or kitchen maid- I want every one of them found and put to the question."

* * *

Kaarlo stamped off, face the colour of beetroot, leaving his majordomo to clean up, as usual.

Blood soaked into an expensive carpet, turning blue wool to black. Sulo shuddered. As strong a commander as that man was, he was also crude and unspeakably plain. God help the next person to vex the Lord Protector that day.

Actually, Kaarlo was probably off to consult with his witch again. The motley old man had been insistent that Jalo was powerless. If Kaarlo suspected sorcery did have a part in these events, there would soon be yet another body leaking over the furnishings.

Sulo shook his head grimly. This coup was turning out to be more precarious than he had hoped.

* * *

NOTE: Just a short chapter, since we haven't heard a whisper from the villains for a while.


	18. Chapter 18- The Low Road, Part 1

CHAPTER 18- The Low Road, Part 1

* * *

 _In which our heroes must venture underground to avoid the barrows. But, you know, it's Myrtle. Cave exploration is hardly going to be safe._

* * *

"Well, as I see it, we only have so many options."

Jani sat, polishing his sword, on a rise overlooking the field of draug barrows. He was still inwardly kicking himself for not having known they were there- ancestral knowledge and nocturnal crow fly-bys left far too many gaps in his information. He probably didn't seem the most competent guide. Then again, who would have expected anyone to remember where these barrows all were a month ago? They were everywhere, just part of the eldritch flavour of the Myrtle landscape. But now they were like caltrops in their path.

As ever, when he feared looking a fool, he compensated by playing the know-it-all. An old police trick he'd picked up from Rinne. _It normally works, is the thing- say two smart things before anyone notices you've just tripped over your own knickers..._

"One thing we're sure of is that the carts and horses have to pass through there." He indicated the barrows. "Now, the rest gets complicated. We don't know whether it is Elsa's power which wakes the draugs up-" he raised a hand to silence Niska "-Hey! Grown-ups talking! Anyway, it _could_ be that, _or_ it could be something else. Say, whatever is driving the wolves down from the mountain forests."

"He's right", Rinne grumbled. "If they're reacting to the Snow Queen, we can split the party in two and lead her round some other way, while the carts pass through. But if _anyone_ could wake them..."

"What difference does it make?" asked Anna.

"Not a whole lot in practice, actually", Jani admitted. "Our only option is to split the party and take Elsa and Olaf round another way. If these barrows are inert, brilliant, we'll meet on the other side and have drinks. If they react to wintery hocus pocus-" Elsa raised an eyebrow, and he shot her a cheeky grin- "then there won't be any around to set them off. But if they can come alive at any time... yeah. Bad news." He frowned. "Elsa, you're the Queen. You don't need to raise your hand."

Elsa lowered her hand. There was a hint of mockery in her smile. _Probably that 'hocus pocus' thing... why do I even open my mouth sometimes?_

"Sorry, Teacher. So, what way exactly would _I_ be travelling?"

Jani smiled mischievously. "Hope you're okay with the dark."

* * *

"And you're _sure_ this leads where we want to go?"

Anna raised her torch, looking at the narrow walls of the cave either side of her as if expecting them to snap shut all of a sudden. Elsa shared her misgivings, although she didn't say anything. The caves weren't actually all that dark- they were cracks, really, fissures in the mountain rocks widened by extinct waterways, and some light seemed to filter down from above in some places. They did seem to be going deeper, though.

"You'll be fine if you stick close by me", Jani insisted. "Now please don't stop like that- I'd hate to lose you in here."

"How can you keep your bearings in here?" asked Elsa. "I couldn't even tell you what way the entrance was in, with all these twists and turns."

Jani paused a moment and considered. "I have... an excellent sense of direction." Then he continued walking. Then he stopped again. "Wait, where is Olaf?"

Elsa looked back. He'd gone off exploring again. They'd never reach the other side at this rate.

Backtracking, they found Olaf perched halfway up the cave wall, stuck halfway in a small crevice, struggling with something which Elsa couldn't see.

"Olaf!"

"Yes? Oh, yeah, 'stick together!' It's okay, I'm nearly there..."

There was a popping sound, and Olaf fell back out of the hole, clutching the rusted helmet he had somehow turned up in when it was time to enter the caves. He landed in the arms of a startled Jani, then bounced down onto his feet, just as something long, slimy and bright pink shot out of the hole and snapped at him.

Elsa and Anna shrieked and leaped back from the jabbing, toothy maw of the creature. Jani _tsk_ ed, and calmly grabbed the monster around its... _neck? Behind its mouth, at any rate_... and pulled hard. The creature struggled a little, then went quiet.

Olaf put the battered helmet back on his head. "What was that guy's _problem_..."

Jani looked at the snowman wearily. "It's a worm. Just a little one- must have taken your head for a rabbit, or a bird or something."

"A little one? It's as thick as an arm!" Holding her torch up close to its head, Anna looked hard at the segmented, glistening creature still twitching in the scout's firm grip. _He must have excellent muscle tone_ , Elsa reflected. _Maybe I could sketch him. No, that wouldn't be appropriate_...

"The really big ones are deep underground." Releasing the exhausted invertebrate, Jani started back in the direction they had been headed, and beckoned for them to follow. "Or so I've heard. Even I'm not nuts enough to go down _there_."

The group followed Jani far more closely after that. Elsa supposed it had been too much to hope that these caverns were safer than any other part of Myrtle- and here they were, one real sword fighter, Anna with a few hours of lessons, Olaf with... no, he was more a hugger than a fighter... and her. At least she was pretty confident she could freeze worms-

Her train of thought was interrupted as Jani suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. It was alarming, but at the same time... she could see the blue in his eyes, swirling in the black like flames. No one had eyes like that... a question for another time...

Then she snapped back to reality and saw the worm's head twitching a few inches from her own. It tried to swing itself in her direction, but Jani pulled her back as Anna's sword lopped off the final foot of it. It died with a hiss like escaping air.

Releasing her, Jani shrugged apologetically. "I had to move fast." His finger softly brushed her cheek. "Please, _please_ , keep an eye on your surroundings until we're out of the nest."

They continued clambering through the dim caverns. Unconsciously, Elsa raised a hand to her face. It tingled where Jani had touched it. _After saving me_. From yet another monster. She couldn't put her finger on why- she was Queen, she had guards protecting her all the time- but it felt different having Jani watching over her. Better, like-

She quickly raised her hands to freeze another worm as it poked its head up out of the ground in front of her. _Oh yes, my surroundings_. Maybe she _should_ concentrate on not being eaten.

Some minutes and several dead or frozen worms later, Jani announced that they were past the nest. When asked by Anna how he could be sure, he tapped his ear and continued walking. Come to think of it, there had been a kind of ominous soughing further back in the caves. Faint as it was, she had half thought that it was just her imagination, or the wind, but perhaps it was the worms. Talking... She didn't want to think about that.

As the tension started to lift, the others began to start talking again. Elsa wasn't really paying attention; lost in her own thoughts, she watched Jani step lightly over the broken, wet, uneven surfaces which she and Anna were clambering over like clumsy children. Who moved like that? His grace was hypnotic, like the flight of a bumblebee around a flower.

He turned around, and she had to pretend she hadn't been staring, as he offered his hand to help her up a steep rise. They had reached a wider passage, lit by a great crack in the hills above trough which daylight poured, and were able to walk normally for a while.

Finding herself walking by Jani's side, she glanced cautiously in his direction; their eyes met, and he glanced away, quickly seeming to find something of interest on the wall next to him. It was obvious even to Elsa, with her frightfully limited understanding of these matters, that he was doing exactly what she was- pretending not to be looking at her.

Was he interested, then? Anna thought so- but then Anna's record on romance wasn't spotless. But even if she were sure, what was she supposed to do? Invite him out for a candlelit meal down in this dripping cave? Or back in camp, when all Myrtlean eyes were fixed on her up to the point she barricaded herself inside an ice hall for the night?

She didn't know if she was using these obstructions as an excuse for her childish nerves, or her nerves as an excuse to avoid the consequences of _entanglement_ with a commoner, or his lack of royal status as an excuse for her nerves...

"Elsa?"

He was speaking.

"Yuh huh?" Startled, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, recipient of the finest education wealth and status could acquire, responded to a potential suitor's simple enquiry with an unintelligible burble. _What even was that sound? Can I not use words around this man anymore? God, I'm a coward_.

Maybe she should tell him. Anything to relieve this... tension which made it impossible to say what she wanted, or anything of any sense.

He didn't seem to notice, to her relief. "It's about your powers. I don't know if it's something you talk about, so sorry if it's too private..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've seen you draw on water around you to make ice- that bridge, say. But when you fought the draugs, and when you fought the bandits _which was awesome by the way_ -" he took a breath- "you just made ice out of thin air. So..." He looked at her meaningfully.

Elsa got what he was driving at. "So, you're asking what's up with that?"

"Yes."

They continued to walk along as she tried to think of the best way to explain. There wasn't really a good technical language in place for discussing ice powers. "Okay... in essence, it's about how much I have to twist the world. No, not twist... push, maybe. Freezing water that's there, or moving around ice, it doesn't take much magic. But making a hot day cold, or pulling ice out of the air itself, I have to push a lot harder."

Jani rubbed his smooth chin. "So, it's more draining?"

"No, not at all." Elsa shook her head. "I don't get drained that way. I froze my whole country and didn't even feel it, remember? It gets tiring doing detail, just like concentrating on _anything_ too long, but my powers just run and run."

She held on to Jani's hand as she clambered through a narrow bottleneck. The contact made something in her chest grow warm and rapid.

"Actually, that was kind of an example of my problem. The more power I release, the harder it is to control, and the harder it is to control... side effects."

"The tree. When you made the bridge, a tree at the edge of the gorge turned wintery."

Elsa nodded. "That was a light bleed. A tiny bit of misdirected energy. When I used my powers to escape and build a refuge, back on the night of my coronation, I didn't understand the forces I was manipulating, and set off a great winter."

"And _that_ set off storms?"

Some of the blood drained from Elsa head. Myrtle. Of course. _Of course_ he would remember storms...

"Yes. That, that was me", she admitted falteringly.

The effects of freezing a whole nation had rippled out far beyond her own borders. The northern gulf which Myrtle controlled had seen once-in-a-century squalls and tempests develop out of seemingly nowhere to batter merchantmen and warships alike. The best sailors and shipbuilders in the world, they had weathered it for the most part surprisingly unscathed, but a cargo ship had been lost with all hands. Was this why the soldiers looked at her the way they did?

Anna squeezed her hand. Elsa smiled at her, weakly, in thanks.

 _Actions and consequences. And consequences of consequences. Twenty-six Myrtle sailors I sent beneath the waves, to add to the bodies found in Arendelle once the winter snows evaporated. Our country got lucky, all told- so many people had been in the city for the coronation, and there had been enough blankets and firewood to keep body and soul together- but a few people had been caught out, up on hills and out in fields..._

"I'm an idiot, I shouldn't have..." Jani shook his head, and started off down another twisting passage.

The sisters looked at each other, and followed after him.

"I don't think he meant anything by it..." whispered Anna.

"I know..." Elsa sighed. "Let's just keep moving."

"Hang on," said Jani, after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

"What is it?" Olaf bounced up beside him, happily oblivious to any real trouble- and yet he had insisted on wearing a helmet if they were going 'spelunking'. He didn't have a skull...

"I... think I chose the wrong passage back there."

Oh, no...

"Don't worry!" he quickly added. "A bunch of these cracks run in parallel, so we should get back on the right path if we follow this one for a bit."

"But, you haven't been this way before." Anna seemed unconvinced.

Jani seemed annoyed- either at himself, at Anna, or some of both. "Look, it's a cave. There are only so many directions caves can form when the water only flows in one direction."

"So, we _aren't_ lost, then."

The guide grunted, and continued on down the passage. "Your royal Highness, I shall have you back out in the open air before you know it." Elsa was impressed at how much sass Jani could communicate through tone.

Then they found something unexpected.

Following closely behind Jani, they came to a circular area which seemed to have been widened out deliberately into a room. In the centre of the room was... No. _No_.

"Oh, come _on_ ", Jani groaned. "Who buries people in a _cave_?"

The tomb in the centre of the room was not quite the same as the barrows out on the hills. They had been crude piles of stone, seeming almost like natural formations as they lay half-covered amid the grass and purple heather. This was... grander. While also made of many small stones, they were regular in colour- a deep rusty hue which looked nothing like the stone of the caves. The grave was topped with a huge slab of dark slate, like a sarcophagus lid... or a sacrificial table... Writing of some kind was scratched into its surface, in a script Elsa could not even identify, let alone read...

"Elsa!" Jani grabbed her hand and pulled her away. "Enough sight-seeing! Let's get out of here, now!"

They stumbled past the tomb and on into another natural passage- Jani must think it would take them the right way and Elsa wasn't going to argue. But, just as Anna Olaf caught up with them, they heard a crumbling sound. With a puff of dust and rubble, the gathered stones collapsed, and something very strong indeed flung the slate cover from off itself, to land against the stone floor with a _crack_ which echoed through the confined space.

Jani yelled something unprintable. Elsa really hoped Olaf didn't learn any more of those words, but right now she was too terrified to let it bother her. Power rattled at the bars of its cage, pulsing and straining in her heart and in her blood, demanding release. _Don't lose control..._

Rubble fell away from a tall, imposing figure as it rose to its feet. The draug wore a suit of heavy armour- antique but ornate, as if he had been a man of rank. Corroded brass gleamed green and grey in the flickering light of their torches.

Seeing Elsa and the others in retreat, he hissed with predatory delight and charged at them. They weren't about to wait around to be eaten, so they scarpered along in the opposite direction as quickly as they could while clambering over rocks in a dark passage, dragging a snowman or trying not to drop a torch.

The chase continued down winding, lightless corridors of damp rock, the clattering of armour and feral, gasping cries a continuous reminder that, as they ran, he remained close behind them- and that, unlike them, he was not slowing down. The caverns rang with the metallic _clanks_ as their pursuer caromed off the walls in the darkness.

Then they came to a narrowing in the path- a gap which they could barely squeeze through sideways. Jani pulled Elsa through after himself, and then moved her aside so he could help Olaf. His butt snagged in the tight hole, leaving him wedged, and Anna yelped with panic as she saw the draug round a corner. Black eyes met teal, and dead lips smiled spitefully.

"Hah! Not today!" her sister yelled, and gave Olaf a hard kick which dislodged his frozen behind, catapulting him into Elsa and Jani. Anna then dove through the gap, hitting the floor to avoid a pale arm as it burst through the hole, thrashing wildly.

The draug started to pull itself through, but it found itself wedged by its armour, with a shoulder and two arms and a head on their side. It fixed baleful dark eyes on Olaf, and extended an arm. Expanding, the limb popped and cracked grotesquely as it slowly stretched towards them, ghostly grey in the twilight of the caverns.

Enough of that. Elsa got back up on her feet, and reached out with her powers. She could not affect the creature directly, but she didn't have to. Ice filled a hundred flaws and fractures in the rocks around the draug, the stone above it. Then that ice slowly expanded.

Hearing the creaking and groaning of tortured rock, Jani beckoned Anna and Olaf further away from the trapped monstrosity. Once they were safely out of range, Elsa issued a final burst of power, letting the roof of the cave collapse around the armoured draug, burying it under tons of splintered stone.

A falling stone glanced painfully off the side of her head, making her ears ring and reminding her that she should really get some distance between her and the cave-in she had created. She hurried over to the others, and they continued briskly on until the noise had died down.

The others convinced her to sit down while Anna looked at the bump on her head. She insisted on being the one to care for Elsa, even though Jani seemed competent enough at first aid... deprived of a practical role he just hovered anxiously, as if she had never been hit on the head before. Olaf offered her his spelunking helmet; she politely declined. Once Anna was satisfied that her sister was not concussed, they carried on walking after Jani.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" Jani was still fussing. She did her best to reassure him. Boys were such terrible worriers- she wasn't made of glass, after all. _Still... he cares..._ she was grateful at that moment that the dim light made blushes undetectable.

Jani smiled kindly. "Well, do speak up if that whack on the head starts to trouble you. In the meantime, we need to get to the bay before Rinne decides to leave without us."

 _Please, God, no more surprises..._


	19. Chapter 19- The Low Road, Part 2

CHAPTER 19- The Low Road, Part 2

* * *

 _In which our heroes must finish what they started and finally rejoin the rest of the party._

* * *

Anna groaned inwardly. She was sick of caves. The uneven floor was rapidly turning into the bed of a stream, and her socks were getting wet through her boots. And to top it off, the atmosphere was just weird. It was normally cute watching her sister and her weird crush dancing around each other, but since the draug attack they had just been walking in silence, glancing at each other all doe-eyed. It sure was uncomfortable to be in the middle of. Maybe it would be better when they finally just kissed or something. She'd have to give Elsa a stronger push in that direction.

It seemed to be bothering Olaf too, as he was hanging around next to her. At least _he_ was talking.

They had been discussing, not for the first time, what was going on back at Arendelle. It had been weighing on her mind more and more, and the dangers and strange sights of the road were no longer enough of a distraction. Right now, Kristoff must have _zero_ idea of their current situation- they were still supposed to be living it up with the now-deceased King of Myrtle- and so was probably focused on keeping the snowgies in hand and making sure the ice got delivered. Kai had promised to keep him away from any wedding-related decisions.

"He doesn't know..." Anna clenched her fist. "I could die up here, we _all_ could, and... he would have no idea." _Not until a fleet from Myrtle turned up in the harbour and everything began to burn. Then he'd realise._ Her stomach clenched as she thought it, the pain of waiting and fearing and missing his dopey, wonderful face all twisting together into a throbbing knot. Romance novels had totally been lying to her her whole life. Turned out it wasn't all sweet nothings or passionate embraces- sometimes it just ached like a gut punch when the one she wanted was out of reach.

 _Love_ , right? Elsa didn't know what she was letting herself in for.

"Oh, Anna..." Olaf put an arm around her.

"Everything is going to be okay, Anna", said Elsa. "You'll get home safe, and in time for your wedding- I promise."

"You don't know that! You can't promise that!" Anna snapped. She didn't often shout at Elsa, and she knew it wasn't really fair, but she was cold and damp and tired and... scared... and missed the feel of warm arms smelling of reindeer fur, and she was sick of platitudes like 'It'll be alright', which meant well but... didn't her sister know she wasn't a kid?! She was nineteen, and soon to be wed! She knew what could happen...

"Anna?" said Jani.

"What?!" she practically yelled.

"You're right."

 _That's a switch_. "Um, really?"

 _Try not to sound surprised, dummy_.

Jani continued, still walking on through the twisting passage ahead of them. "You're right to be afraid of what could happen here. You're right to be afraid of what could happen to your home. And you are right to talk about your fears, and we should all face facts- there is no guarantee of a tomorrow for any of us."

He looked up at the stone over their heads, and sighed through his teeth.

"Myrtle is raging. Death and treason everywhere, and syrupy Southern optimism won't save us. No offence. All I can promise is that, as long as _I_ survive, I will do whatever I can to keep you safe and get you back home. _All_ of you."

Anna wasn't sure how to react. "Gee... thanks. I'll do my best to not let _you_ be killed, too."

Jani nodded. "I appreciate that."

"If Kristoff were here, would he be staying in the ice houses with you, me and Elsa?"

Olaf's question seemed to come out of nowhere in particular. Maybe he was trying to take her mind off things, or maybe he was just being... him. "Um, I... dunno... probably not, Olaf."

"Why?"

Elsa spoke up. "Anna can't share a room with her fiancé before their wedding, Olaf. Even if they can be trusted, they have to think of Anna's reputation as a princess."

Olaf nodded uncertainly. There was obviously a lot he didn't 'get' about romance, but Anna sure wasn't going to try and explain.

Hold on a minute. _Even_ _if?_

"Is that why Jani can't stay with us?"

Now thoroughly distracted, Anna could barely contain her delight at the colour Elsa turned at Olaf's question. _Oh, this is precious... even Olaf can tell..._

The next five minutes of Elsa trying to somehow explain how boys and girls had to keep a distance from each other _without_ going into the birds and bees didn't diminish Olaf's curiosity one bit. Anna just wished she had popcorn...

* * *

Jani glanced back at Elsa, still following close behind him, promising to teach Olaf all about reproductive anatomy once they got back to Arendelle, if he would _please_ stop asking her about it for now. She looked like her head was about to pop.

Part of him felt he should lend a hand- if anyone in the world was an expert on manhood _and_ womanhood, it had to be himself. Or, alternatively, herself. And besides, being male while lacking the... popular indicator... was something he and Olaf actually had in common right now. Unless you counted the carrot...

But he was maddeningly bad at _explaining_ what he was or how he saw things- no one but Rinne had ever just accepted it without argument- and he panicked at the prospect of saying too much in his awkwardness, and tipping his hand.

Could she still not tell? How long before she figured it out? It was hard to believe someone so bright could not see what was in front of her face- a testament to his brilliant powers of disguise, for sure- _but_ eventually something would catch her notice, something that didn't fit...

Then the hair and the bindings and the clothes would cease to shield him, leaving him naked before the consequences of his lie...

Was it even really a lie, though? _Other_ men never had to disclose the contents of their pants to friendly acquaintances- but then, with most men there was nothing in that area which would surprise a lady. _Disappoint_ , potentially...

And other men were in no danger of waking up a woman the next day... No, it was a pointless way of thinking. It would be _seen_ as a deception, whatever arguments or excuses he could concoct in his favour.

He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind. Focus on the task at hand. They were only a short distance from where the caves opened out at the edge of the Green Bay. That meant... oh, _yes_.

Paranoia briefly forgotten, he felt a smile return to his face as he led his companions to that place he had found once before.

One more twisting, turning passage, and the constrictive, jagged stone walls enclosing them opened out into a single huge cavern, as broad and high as a concert hall. A dozen or so little streams issued from cracks in the stone, meeting the one they had been following, winding between rosy pink crags and knobbly stalagmites as they poured toward a bright, pale light which was visible across from them- the way out.

"Light!" screamed Anna, bouncing up and down like a kid and hugging Elsa, who smiled at Jani in a long-suffering kind of way.

Weaving nimbly between the spikes, Jani made his way into the centre of the cavern. Resisting the urge to look behind him, he instead half-closed his eyes and enjoyed the gasps of the two sisters as they realised why the ground was pink.

Overgrowing the stones and silty stream beds were a multitude of tiny flowers, thousands upon thousands, growing in shades from coral to magenta. Each luminous floret was shaped like a little crocus, but with something like a minute cluster of bells at its centre. As they trembled in the air currents, they created a soft rustling- a gentle soughing, like the wind blowing through a leafy forest, or the crashing of waves on a distant sea.

He took a seat on a reasonably flat, dry stone and offered Elsa the roguish smile he had been practicing in the mirror since he was thirteen. It seemed to work, as she blushed and looked at her feet.

"Jani, this is..." Was she lost for words already?

He sighed happily to himself. The whole cavern slog had been worth it if it led to this. "Elsa, use your magic." She gave him a funny look. "Just, any magic. Make a snowball, or something. Trust me."

"Okay..." Elsa formed an ice crystal on her palm. At once the rustling grew more intense, the flowers vibrating in unison to create a kind of low but intense purring sound.

"Oh!" Startled, Elsa dissolved the ice crystal. Immediately the sound died down. She looked at him wide-eyed.

Jani chuckled. "Witch blossom. It reacts to magic."

As if to demonstrate further, Olaf bent over to pick one of the flowers from the base of a stalagmite. It hissed and rattled as his fingers touched it; unsurprisingly, he let go and left it where it was.

"And of course, there's this..." Jani whistled a couple of bars of an old tune. The florets repeated it back to him in a thousand tiny voices, all out of time with each other; it sounded more like the twittering of songbirds in spring.

The four of them spent the next few minutes whistling, humming and singing, trying to get the best sound they could out of the multitude of blossoms scattered around them. Actual lyrical songs were too much for them- the words blurred together into white noise, but Elsa found that she could get them to follow a scale if she sang the notes smoothly and evenly.

When, on her third try, she had managed to conduct their floral orchestra through a slow fanfare, she gave a dignified curtsey to the others, accepting their applause, and sat down next to Jani, beaming brightly. His heart jumped as he caught her scent, but he managed to keep his expression even.

"I'm glad I could bring you here." He gestured to the shivering flowers, still faintly echoing the Queen's smooth, warm voice. "Myrtle isn't _all_ wolves, monsters and storm-lashed rock. You haven't seen the best of it. Of us." He sighed.

Elsa looked him up and down. "I don't know. Some of you seem pretty okay..."

Jani snorted. "Yeah, Rinne is a devilish charmer, isn't he?"

Elsa giggled, and looked away. He wasn't sure why he had deflected the complement instead of returning it. He suspected it had to do with his being a complete jackass- fortunately that seemed to be working for him, somehow.

His pleasant train of thought was interrupted by a crashing, booming sound from the tunnel network they had recently emerged from. Everyone jumped up.

"What in the world was that?" asked Anna.

Jani growled. "If we're very lucky, just a cave-in."

They weren't lucky. A battered, dented, enraged creature burst through into the cavern, flinging rocky debris in every direction. Too much to hope that it would have stayed buried- if not forever, then at least for a couple more hours.

This was different to the gorge- those draugs had been confident, toying. Buried twice over, this enormous specimen lumbered at charged at them like a hobbled, pale ape, blind with fury. Jani did not care. Did this dead thing think it knew what being pissed off meant? _I'd finally got to show her something... nice... and then you... you rancid, cheesy, snaggle-toothed cock-blocking bastard!_

That old black-and-blue magic sparked in his blood, feeding on his rage, sharpening his mind and senses. He had to draw the monster's attention from Elsa and Olaf. Then find some way to trap it again or destroy it. _That simple, huh?_

Anna seemed to be guarding Olaf, sword at the ready. Her stance was really coming along. Elsa had trapped one of the draug's feet in ice. It would only hold it for a moment; meanwhile it swung wildly at Jani and at the queen and princess, torn flesh bubbling and twisting as it repaired its injuries, dry bones creaking and popping as it started to grow even larger.

Jani dove under clawing, distended hands and slashed away viciously, severing tendons and sending fingers flying. It made no difference in the long term, but it succeeded in drawing the undead warrior's attention- it swiped at him savagely, stumbling on its trapped leg as he danced around its flank. As ever, part of him recognised that he could easily die at any moment, he was no fool, but he felt strangely dispassionate about the possibility. It was a hypothetical, a concept he could not bring himself to care about.

As he circled round, he let the tip of Snake brush across the witch blossom, raising a soft, keening wail, like a trail of widows' tears. The cutlass had history.

Nothing was real but the fight. It consumed all other concerns, like the most choking thirst, the most crushing misery, the most damning guilt. This rotten, loveless ruin wanted to suck Elsa dry. He would stop it. _Yeah. That simple._

As the draug stumbled, Elsa froze its other foot. It wobbled; seizing the opportunity, Jani ducked behind and drove a shoulder hard into it, toppling the howling corpse forward as an ankle snapped with a _pop_. He scurried nimbly up its back as it fell, in time to stamp his foot down hard on a clammy neck as the giant landed face first on a stalagmite, impaling it through the head with a noise like a pumpkin splitting.

It lay there for a bit, twitching, several feet of mangled armour and uneven limbs, while they stood around it, slightly dazed and unsure what to do next. There was a frustrating lack of closure in fighting what could not die.

"Should have worn his helmet", observed Olaf, tapping his own with a pebble.

Anna poked at the shuddering monster with her sword. "So, do you think it's stuck to the rocksicle?"

"It's called a stalactite, Anna." Elsa was keeping her distance, sensibly.

"Actually, the ones on the ground are stalagmites. Stalactites are the ones up there." Jani pointed to the roof of the cave.

Elsa frowned. "Right... I can never remember which is which."

Jani smiled wickedly. "It's simple. Stalac _tites_ , stalag _mites_. _Tights_ go down, _mites_ go up."

"Is there a less disgusting way to remember- oh!" Elsa jumped further away as the draug threw an arm forward in what seemed like a deliberate movement. "It's waking up!"

"Cut off its head, Jani!"

"That didn't work last time, Anna."

"Ice! ALL the ice!"

"We need a _fire_!" Jani looked at their foe, already beginning to recover its limited wits. They'd never get one burning in time...

Anna looked pained. "Hold on... wait... oh, darn it." She put a hand down her collar and fished about a bit, pulling out a strange necklace. It was a surprising accessory for a princess- what seemed to be a number of natural crystals strung simply, although elegantly, on bark twine- but the crystals glowed from within in several different colours.

Anna detached a large, reddish orange gem and held it up mournfully. "I'm not _really_ supposed to use it- but it _is_ an emergency. They'll understand."

Olaf stared into the luminous spike. "Woah... what is it?"

"It's a fire crystal." Anna replied through gritted teeth, digging around in her pack. "And now I've broken my engagement necklace. That's _got_ to be bad luck." Grabbing a pullover from her own things, she rushed in and tried to wrap it around the creature's punctured head. Half understanding her intention, Jani hacked its hands away as they pawed blindly for the princess. Once she had tied the woollen garment around the monster's ruined skull, Anna brandished the orange crystal and held it out.

"Now what do I say... oh, yes!" Anna murmured something incomprehensible, and a deep, reddish flame appeared at the end of the crystal. She held it under the draug's face, trying to get the wool to catch.

Then the creature shifted suddenly, causing Anna to yelp and jump back, dropping the crystal. Jani had expected it to go out; instead it began to burn brighter and whiter, consuming the top foot or so of the draug in a searing conflagration. It screamed, for what seemed like the longest time, every limb flailing and scratching at thin air, before it finally fell still.

 _Okay... well, fire works._

Anna crouched in front of the draug's remains- its head was a heap of ashes- and brushed away a tear. There was no sign of the crystal. Elsa put an arm around her. "You did great, Anna. Kristoff would be proud of you."

Jani rubbed his eyes with the ball of his palm. The afterimage of a flaming draug skull was still seared onto his retinas. "What... what was _that_? Where did you get those crystals?"

"They were from Kristoff", Anna explained. "He was... raised by trolls. Kind of a long story." She stumbled towards the cave exit. "I... want to get out of here..."

"Hang on! There's a drop..." Jani followed her out. The party gathered at the cave mouth, looking down a sharp incline into a landscape wholly different from anything they had previously come across on their journey.

A broad river had carved a great bay out of the Myrtlean coast, walled in by the great, grey granite cliffs they were standing on, and those on the opposite side. In between were miles of wetlands- the silted up waters had formed hundreds of little islands with deep channels cutting between them like bright roads, waters orange with sediment in contrast to the green, lush marshy growth. Some of the 'land' was ever peppered with little, stunted birch trees.

It was almost cheery. Of course, there was a two hundred foot statue of a man wielding an sword standing in the middle of it all, but that was how you knew you were still in Myrtle.

"Wow... that's quite a sight..." breathed Anna.

"Is that a village?" Elsa pointed.

Further out in the bay, a spur of more solid land supported a dark, higgledy piggledy collection of rough wood and turf dwellings. Jani's eyes could make out a fishing boat in dock, which meant the inhabitants were probably still fisherman and hadn't taken to cannibalism or something annoying.

"Yeah, that's Larkspur." Jani shouldered his pack. "We'll probably stop there and trade supplies. And there _should_ still be a ferry." He started down the cliff path. "Follow me if you please, ladies. Rinne's probably been waiting for hours."

They rendezvoused with the rest of the party. It turned out they had passed through the draug barrows on the surface without incident. This had strengthened everyone's suspicions that Elsa was responsible, especially the Myrtleans who were hostile to her already. Jani didn't mention the draug that had awoken in the cave. Best not to let them _know_ they're right...

It was settled, then. He really had to kill Niska somehow... they were running out of time.

* * *

NOTES

Sorry it's taken a while. Sickness, work, festive family visits- how is an autistic boy supposed to write when people keep socially interacting with him?


	20. Chapter 20- The Letter

CHAPTER 20- THE LETTER

* * *

 **A day previously**

"You know, we could do this somewhere else."

The corner of Kai's mouth curled up in amusement. Kristoff had learned to pay him no mind- he sometimes seemed like he was looking down his nose at him, the newest member of the royal court and soon the royal family (Boy, that was going to take some getting used to...), but he had given far more help and support than he had needed to over the past months of building up the ice business. More so, now Kristoff had somehow been left 'in charge'.

"What, like _my_ office? No, there's even _less_ room, it's like a broom closet." Perched on the edge of the royal chair as if afraid it would eat him, Kristoff shuffled papers about on the one corner of Elsa's desk which wasn't already occupied by Her Things, arranged in a _very_ particular order.

Truth be told, he'd be lost right now without Kai to tell him what papers to read, stamp, or ignore. The trolls had done their best to educate him over the years, but their priorities were different from a human's. He didn't understand half the stuff that went into running a castle, never mind a kingdom, and a small, insecure part of him worried this was all some kind of a joke at his expense. _Let's see if we can get the numbskull peasant so bored and confused that he has second thoughts about marrying into the royal family_.

Maybe it was- he had no idea whether Elsa really liked him or not. He still hadn't got his head around how the Queen's mind worked.

She was polite enough, but kind of distant when Anna wasn't around to keep the conversation going. Maybe it was all those years isolating herself- she probably hadn't had a lot of friends. Or maybe any.

There was the marriage thing, too, which was plain weird. She seemed in a massive rush to find a royal match. He'd have thought she'd be putting it off as long as possible, what with her being... well... so obviously... _you know_.

He glanced down a description of some latrine repairs. Did Elsa really get reports on _everything_? Kai had already paid the invoices, so he just had to stamp the final page... and...

A yawn escaped his lips.

Kai raised his eyebrows. "Too early for you, sir?"

Kristoff scowled. "This isn't really my thing, you know."

"With the sole exception of our beloved Majesty, I don't think this is _anyone's_ 'thing'. But since this is how _she_ prefers it, and since she is unavailable..." He handed Kristoff another fistful of forms and invoices. "...we must bear with it until she returns. Only a few more."

 _Argh..._ he missed Anna so much. Yes, she was a massive klutz, and just talked, and talked and talked the whole time, which could be pretty annoying, but he could never be bored with her around. And there was a look she got in her eyes which made him feel better about the whole world, and his place in it. _And_ , _she_ would be able to think of a way to get him out of Queen Elsa's eternal cycle of paper. Her holiday couldn't be over fast enough.

He was starting to wish the snowgies would start trouble again, just so he could deal with something else. He was starting to think he should go up and check on Marshmallow's place, actually. He hadn't seen Sven in nearly two days, and he'd bet every penny he had that those crazy little imps had him stuck somewhere.

Some ruckus outside the door brought him back into the present. After rattling at the door handle frantically, a guard burst in, struggling with an excited raven. The large black bird, which was wearing a red neckerchief for some reason, paused when it saw Kristoff, before releasing its grip on the poor soldiers head and hopping onto the desk, knocking papers and stationery in every direction. The guard saluted awkwardly, and then backed out of the room, as Kai rushed to gather up the fallen piles of Arendelle bureaucracy.

When his surprise had worn off, Kristoff was able to process that the crow, which was standing right in front of him with its very sharp-looking bill inches from his nose, was holding up one of its legs; it had some sort of package tied to it, wrapped in leather..

"A messenger bird... how quaint." Kai gingerly slipped the letter out and unfolded it.

He paled a little as he read the message. "Oh, dear Lord..."

"What is it?" Kristoff couldn't take his eyes off the raven. It was just staring at him, perched on Elsa's muddled paperwork like it was waiting for something... _She'd understand that wasn't my fault, right? It was a miracle her desk stayed as it was for so long, with the little monsters about..._

Kai tugged at his necktie nervously. "I... perhaps you should read it yourself."

He handed him the note. The writing was small and scratchy, but he could make it out.

I HAVE GIVEN THIS CROW A RECENT DESCRIPTION OF KRISTOFF BJORGMAN. IF HOWEVER HE HAS NOT REACHED HIM, PLEASE DELIVER THIS MESSAGE TO ARENDELLE'S ICE MASTER WITHOUT DELAY.

How do you give a crow instructions? Weird... Kristoff carried on reading.

When he was done, he buried his face in his hands.

 _Oh no..._

* * *

Olaf tugged on Jani's sleeve. "Who's the big guy?"

Jani smiled, and looked at the colossus which stood in the exact centre of the bay. A statue as tall as a castle did draw the eye.

" _That's_ a story I haven't told you yet. The big guy is supposed to be Jaakko Martellus, founder of our country. The way the legends go, he and his clan arrived here in this bay, from the Marshlands over the sea, nearly a thousand years ago. He then carved out a human kingdom by driving back the frost giants."

Elsa found that a little hard to swallow. "Were there really frost giants?"

Jani snorted. "Well, I've seen too much crazy stuff to just flat-out say no, but... giants? Really? I mean, we're tough, but this was long before Niklas Sea Crow's golden age. How could we fight a whole race of _basically_ huge versions of _you_?"

She... wasn't sure whether to take that as a complement...

He continued, gestured to the other Myrtleans. "I mean, think about it. We all speak two languages. And our nobles all have Marshlander names like, I dunno, 'Vilppu', while our commoners are called things like 'Bjørn' or 'Knut'. Doesn't take a genius to figure out what really happened, does it?"

"Hey, it looks like Sven!" Olaf had run ahead. They were approaching the fishing village of Larkspur, and there was an aged wooden carving of a reindeer near the entrance which the little snowman was trying to climb onto the back of.

Jani pointed to the carving. "And then there's stuff like _that_. Statues of nature spirits all over the place. You don't get those over the sea."

He shrugged. " _Historia on kirjoittanut voittajat_. History is written by the victors. I guess 'Our great king and founder, who triumphed over the ice giants' sounds a lot better in the telling than 'That foreign bastard who conquered a bunch of reindeer herders'..."

Elsa stared at the vast statue of Martellus in the distance. He was portrayed holding a battle-axe. And howling. "How did the ancient Myrtleans even _build_ anything that size?"

"Yeah, that... Magic."

 _Magic?_ Elsa looked at him questioningly. He seemed suddenly uncomfortable.

"What? There used to be witches. Now there aren't. The end." He led them on into the village, hurriedly. She was going have to press him on that.

Wait... did Jani think of _her_ as a witch, like some people still did? Was that why he didn't want to discuss what happened with them?

She wasn't a witch. Just... not.

Witches put curses on people. Witches stole babies from their families and raised them all alone, just to serve their own selfish ends. She was just... Elsa. She couldn't help how she was born, and had never wanted to hurt anyone. She tried to be a good person, and a good queen, and she was getting better at controlling everything.

She wasn't a witch. How to explain?

They were met by a couple of the village women and, once they had been convinced not to flee from or attempt to exorcise Olaf, they led them the shore, where the mayor of Larkspur was helping with the catch. Rinne led the way, as he claimed to have been to the village before.

The fishermen had a full net held between two boats, but seemed to be struggling to bring it in. They clearly didn't have enough men.

As they drew closer, white shingles crunching underfoot, Elsa noticed a number of swimmers in the grey-green water, coming up to the nets. What were they doing in the freezing water instead of helping out with the nets?

Jani swore, something Elsa barely noticed anymore, and caught her hand to stop her getting closer.

The men on the boats started screaming and shouting. The swimmers drew themselves out of the water, brandishing crude spears. She saw a large tail break the surface with a splash. Pale eyes rolled in their sockets, as if in a battle frenzy.

"MERMAIDS!" screamed Olaf in delight.

"MERMAIDS!" shrieked the villagers in horror.

Rinne sniffed. "The naked psycho hillbillies of the sea. Shit." He waved his sword in the air. "Come on, lads! Let's have some fun..."

The Myrtlemen then charged into the shallows to relieve the fishermen. Jani did not join them, which was surprising- he seemed to relish combat in a way which made Elsa uneasy; instead he lingered next to Elsa and Anna protectively, watching the strange sea people flinging spears and flailing clawed, webbed hands at the swordsmen.

Elsa was about to ask why when he suddenly reached out his hand and caught a whalebone javelin. The point quivered inches from her eye- a mermaid had aimed it straight at her.

He shook his head. "You really are a magnet for danger, aren't you?"

The mermaids- and mermen- seemed more crazed than skilled, and soon several were drifting limply on the lapping waves, blood seeping from torn and scaly flesh. The rest were soon in retreat, realising that they had bitten off more than they could chew. All in all, the Myrtleans and villagers had a couple of wounded, nothing too serious, and had rescued the catch.

Once they were done, and the last of the aquatic raiders had vanished back into the depths, the mayor came up to them and shook Rinne by the hand.

"Officer! Much obliged for the assist, what. Most of our strongest got drafted by the military a few days back. Damn strange. Anyhow, those scaly buggers can smell weakness, you know."

Kaarlo was already drafting? That tended to confirm Elsa's worst fears about the coup. If they didn't get back to Arendelle soon, there might not be an Arendelle left to get back to. Just a smoking ruin with the Lord Protector's flag planted on it.

 _Breathe. In, out._

 _Conceal it. Shut it down..._

* * *

Yawning in the rosy evening light, Jani sat down on a log and got to work on shaking the shingles out of his boots. What a day...

It was getting more and more difficult to protect Elsa. Even aside from the pressing issue of Niska, who looked at her like he'd as soon cut her to pieces as say hello, she had been nearly killed by three different hazards since morning. The draug, okay, that was a lot for anyone to handle, but he'd had to save her from _worms_.

Mouse Eye landed on the log, and he tickled him absent-mindedly under the chin. _You'd fight a worm no question, wouldn't you? Crazy little bird._

Apparently worms didn't _get_ that big down in fancy, sugar coated Arendelle, where tame birds fed from your hand and summer was actually _hot_. Well, hooray for them. There was an old Myrtle saying:

 _Hard lands breed hard people. Soft lands breed Southerners._

Maybe if Arendelle were a bit less nice, Elsa and Anna wouldn't need his help so much. Although... he'd be lying if he said he didn't find playing the dashing hero a _little_ bit gratifying where the Queen was concerned. And, although her attention span issues made her a frustrating student, Anna was already showing an aptitude for violence which was slightly terrifying.

 _Mermaids, too_... According to Anna, there were mermaids in the far western sea who were civilised. That sounded even worse...

The party were bivouacking outside the village, and Jani had built his fire some distance from the others, as usual, although he would have preferred more distance and more privacy. Rinne had gone off to have drinks with the mayor- Jani judged it was best not to risk the old man recognising him as the same little girl who... yes, he was not a discreet sort of man.

He was about to ready his bedroll when a flicker of a familiar presence drew his attention. Wash, the messenger raven, swooped down and landed in front of him. That was quick.

Drawing two notes from the crow's pouch, he read the one addressed to him before tossing it into the fire. Tucking the other one into his jacket, he snuck down to the main camp. Amid the hustle and bustle, no one seemed to notice him, and he took the opportunity to slip the little letter in amongst Gerda's things.

 _That'll do_ , he thought, as he trudged back to bed.

* * *

"You're quite certain?" Niska eyed the young soldier sharply.

"Y-yes sir, definitely", he stammered, and repeated his account. Watching Rinne's civilian scout, Jani, as Niska had ordered, he had seen the boy receive a message from a crow. He had then taken the message into the camp and given it to one of the Arendelle folk, 'he wasn't sure which'.

Niska's jaw clenched. An agent of the resistance? An agent of Arendelle? Both in cahoots?

Guide or not, this settled it. Jani would have to go.

A lot of marshy ground in this bay. Perfect for hiding a body...


	21. Chapter 21- Crisis

CHAPTER 21- CRISIS

* * *

 _Young Princess Elsa runs through the corridors of midnight, hand in hand with her friend. The moonlight through the palace windows illuminates their path in patches of bright and darkness, like a checkerboard. Bathed in light for a moment, like an angel in a white nightdress, Mara puts a finger to her lips._

 _Gerda doesn't know. Mama doesn't know. Pappa doesn't know- but Elsa is out of her room, and she is not afraid. She is fearless. She is brave._

 _They are out on the balcony, and the sky is on fire, dancing ribbons of green and purple light ablaze over the mountains, reflecting in Mara's eyes. Soft lips press against hers._

 _What is she doing?_

 _What is she doing here?_

 _Panic erupts in her heart. Her power flashes, and Mara falls. She hits the floor, shattering like Mama's glass ornaments. And Princess Elsa is no longer fearless. And she doesn't feel very brave, not at all._

 _Now the lights are burning houses, and from the balcony Elsa can see dark sails in the harbour..._

* * *

Elsa sat on her bed in the darkness. Beads of moisture trembled on her brow. Always that dream. Never more than a week without dreaming about sneaking out of bed, and...

Was there something else? A servant? She normally forgot the dreams, and they kept changing. Sometimes she lived, sometimes she died; sometimes she ran away. She had dreamt those moments over and over, so many times... had anything ever actually happened? Or was it just a fable her dreams kept revisiting, like a favourite tune?

Was it a girl? She... didn't like to think about _those_ dreams. Jani. There was Jani now.

She fell back into her furs, succumbing to exhaustion as the adrenaline began to wear off. It was the stress of the situation bringing the dreams back, she knew. She'd feel better once she was back in Arendelle, and could _do_ something. Once she could protect those she loved.

Surely _he_ never had nightmares- what was he even afraid of? Then again... he had lost family in the coup. Did he dream of them? Did he cry at night? If he was struggling, he had never given any sign...

Thoroughly worn out, Elsa slept.

"Elsa, wake up! WAAAKE UUUP!"

Elsa opened her eyes, grudgingly. Anna was perched on top of her like a wide-eyed ginger gargoyle, waving a piece of paper in her face.

"Get off me, Anna..." she groaned, struggling to wriggle free. Once her excited sister had released her, she staggered over to the ice table on wobbly early morning legs, and sat down with a yawn.

Anna waved the paper in her face again. It was a letter of some sort, with writing on both sides...

"Where did this come from?" she asked, snatching it deftly from Anna's grasp. Very curious.

She began to read, but Anna snatched it back. "It's private!"

Elsa frowned. "I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Did you wake me up so that I could _not_ read a mysterious letter?"

Anna thought for a moment, then, scanning the page, she folded it neatly in two and handed it back. "It's from Kristoff. Read the first side, and then the second half of the second page. The rest is fiancée's eyes _only_..."

Kristoff. But how?

. .

. .

MY DEAREST ANNA,

THE PARTY WHO HAS ARRANGED FOR THE DELIVERY OF THIS LETTER ASKED THAT THEIR PART STAY SECRET FOR NOW. SHOULD YOU FIGURE OUT WHO IS BEHIND THIS, THOUGH, DO THANK THEM FROM ME.

THANKS TO THEM, WE NOW KNOW OF THE MURDER OF THE KING OF MYRTLE, AND THE DANGER WE ALL FACE IF PEACE BREAKS DOWN. I AM RELIEVED TO KNOW THAT YOU THREE ARE ALL ON YOUR WAY HOME, THOUGH I WISH YOU'D TAKEN MORE SOLDIERS.

PLEASE STAY SAFE. I KNOW YOU LIKE TO CHARGE RIGHT INTO THINGS, AND IT'S PART OF WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU, BUT THE MOUNTAINS HOLD ALL KINDS OF...

...KAI SAYS WE'LL NEED ELSA TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF THE COUNCIL. LETTERS HAVE BEEN SENT TO SOME OTHER RULERS, THOUGH. SHOULD BE QUITE A GET TOGETHER WHEN YOU REACH US.

MISSING YOU. JUST, SO MUCH... HURRY HOME.

KRISTOFF

. .

. .

Elsa placed the letter down on the table and thought a moment.

"Who gave you this letter?"

"Gerda. She said she found it in her stuff when she got up."

"No idea how it got there, then?"

"Nope."

"It's rather suspicious. Does it look like Kristoff's writing to you?"

Anna nodded, still clearly buzzing with excitement.

Elsa scratched her head. "Well, this is hard to explain. The Myrtleans have a messenger bird, but that just flies back and forth between us and their capital, and they wouldn't help us, anyway. But he wrote this in the last two days. It must have been a bird. But..."

Anna seemed not to care about the mystery; she just hugged Elsa around the neck, practically bouncing up and down.

Elsa couldn't help but smile to see the change in her sister. "You're just happy to hear from him, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"You don't really care _how_ the letter reached us, then?"

"Nope..."

. .

* * *

. .

"What's up with you?"

Sat beside him on the hollow log, Rinne looked up from his breakfast. "What do you mean?"

Jani sniffed. "You're smiling. It's practically unnatural."

"Sorry, mamma..." Rinne stroked his moustache with the fingers of one hand. "If you must know, I had a very interesting conversation last night. With one of your new friends..."

* * *

 _Rinne turned around suddenly, annoyed that his late evening quest for a good spot to take a leak had been interrupted. He had been talking with the mayor in the village tavern-come-meeting hall for hours, and his bladder was feeling the strain. Good to hear that no more village kids had gone missing since they had last visited- although he had expected as much after helping Jani put an end to the party responsible._

 _"_ _Princess Anna?"_

 _The young red-headed woman looked pleased with herself. Her arms were folded in front of her chest._

 _"_ _I've figured it out, you know. You and Jani. You can stop pretending now."_

 _Oh, shit..._

 _He tried not to let any concern show. "Oh? And what have you figured out?"_

 _Princess Anna grinned. "Well..."_

 _She was not even close._

* * *

Jani nearly fell off the log for laughing. "Really?"

Rinne smirked. "Yup."

"She thought I was your _son_?"

"Absolutely. She looked heartbroken when I laughed at her. 'But you are so alike', she said..."

"Yeah, we're both bent as a tin penny, for one."

Rinne put a finger to his lips. "Hush now. If it gets out, I can kiss that promotion goodbye..."

Jani chuckled. "You know, it's all legal down in Arendelle... you could settle down and... I dunno." He took a bite of his hard tack.

The old captain shook his head. "You're counting chickens now. A lot of folk will be dead this time next year. Besides, it's too late for me. The way I take care of myself, I'm amazed I'm still alive _now_..."

Jani glanced over to the Arendelle sisters' latest ice house- a miniature gothic creation with dozens of delicate spires. Rinne noticed.

"Not still thinking about letting her sister squire you, are you?"

"For God's sake, Ukko..." Jani threw the rest of his biscuit in the embers of the fire. "I was just _thinking_. Look here... You're the only one who ever... just, let me be myself."

He looked at his hands, feeling awkward, but determined to finally ask. "So what made _you_ understand? Not make it a joke, or attack it- like everyone else."

Rinne shook his head, and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Oh, son, you are daft. Understanding's got nought to do with it. It's what you feel and it's what you need. I'm not going to be a shit to you just because life sometimes gets confusing for an old man."

Jani shrugged. _Good enough, I guess_...

. .

* * *

. .

With a grunt of exertion, Larkspur's ancient ferryman pushed his raft-like vessel away from its moorings, and Elsa tried to ignore the little _lurch_ as the party began to drift across the shallow waters of the bay. On what was basically a giant barn door. The old man's long, grey hair was held back with a black and blue kerchief, as if he were morbidly afraid of not being immediately stereotyped by someone.

Squeezing Anna's hand tightly, she tried to focus on the rest of her surroundings. The morning had brought mercifully mild weather, and they were underway over calm waters, under a cloudy sky of marbled white and blue. If she were comfortable with the sea it would be positively idyllic. They were being taxied from one patch of hard ground to another- a shortcut of maybe half an hour which would safe them half a day of trudging through the treacherous marshes further into the bay. The ferryman had even refused to accept his customary modest fare- merely throwing Jani and Rinne a wink. They had both declined to explain.

Wrapped in the hotchpotch of naval wear and mountain woollens which seemed to be the standard up here, the old man and his son worked steadily together with long wooden poles, puffing through their grizzled beards, keeping the barge in continuous motion without upsetting it. The carthorses whinnied and snorted uneasily with every bump and shift; she knew how they felt.

"How are you feeling?" Anna whispered in her ear.

"Nauseous..." she whispered back. "But I'll be fine. Thanks."

"Why do they let girls on this ship?"

"This isn't a ship. This is a boat", whispered Olaf. "They don't think it counts."

"How did you know that?"

"I'm not sure. Why are we whispering?"

"Elsa started it."

"You are such a liar..."

It wasn't as bad a half hour as she had feared, actually. Still, she was glad when they touched dry land again. The ferryman lashed the barge to its post, then he and his son were collected in a fishing boat by another child. There was another ferry awaiting them further south, but that was several hours ride away, thank goodness.

Time enough to put their plan into motion. She glanced back at Jani. _Finally_.

. .

* * *

. .

Jani was the last to disembark, lingering behind the old servants and the baggage cart. Finally hopping onto land, he nodded to the old ferryman. Poor old sod. He hadn't been able to get him his granddaughter back that time, but he had been able to offer him a _kind_ of justice. The bloody kind.

"Do they know?" the man asked, leaning on his pole. Jani shook his head quickly.

Tapping the side of his nose, the ferryman ambled off stiffly towards his boat, humming to himself. Jani caught a snatch of a familiar song.

 _Black and Blue_

 _Master New..._

He smiled to himself. The song of the second Crow Lord. When people realised it wasn't a one-off thing, that the wild magic kept coming back to his family.

. .

 _Black and Blue_

 _Master New_

 _Death undying, we destroy..._

. .

Niklas the Sea Crow, then the Angel, the Exile, the Monk. The Bluebeard... and now whatever _he_ would come to be called. A bit of a mixed legacy, all things considered.

 _Yes_ , the Crow Kings had led Myrtle to completely destroy the old Empire, burning its capital and plundering its riches in an orgy of heathen desecration. But that had had its bad points, too. The ensuing dark age had left them with fewer and fewer targets worthy of their time, and they had spent much of the past centuries warring with their cousins in the east, or among themselves. Slowly decaying.

Destruction was fun, but had no future. It didn't really have a _past_ , once you stripped away the romance and selective memory of legend. Why couldn't Kaarlo see it? Stupid-arse fantasist traitor...

Besides, there were a few Southerners he'd rather _didn't_ get destroyed. Recent acquaintances- not to name names, you understand...

. .

* * *

. .

 **Some time later**

Sat in a secluded clearing, a little way off from where the rest of the party were eating, Elsa watched Anna and Jani spar with a growing sense of tension. She was not an impatient person, but had her sister forgotten that her lesson was only meant to be a pretext? She had a tendency to get caught up in the action of the moment and forget herself.

If nothing else, at least she was improving. While she had yet to actually land a blow on her instructor, who swatted away her attacks with a casual ease which seemed almost mocking, she could now block many of the more basic attacks, and his favourite early tactic- using his blade to distract her from his feet before kicking her in both shins and laughing his head off- no longer worked as it had the first twelve times. With every lesson, Anna's chances of making it back safely improved, and that was no bad thing. Jani could use some pointers on 'positive reinforcement', though...

An improvised roll to avoid an overhead swing brought Anna eye-to-eye with Elsa, and she took the opportunity to mime a discreet cough and gesture back to the camp with a tilt of her head. Anna's eyes widened- yes, she had completely forgotten. _Lord love you sister, but you are ridiculous sometimes..._

Anna raised her hand to stop the fighting. "Um, sorry Jani, can you hang on a sec? I have to... I mean... I forgot... water!" She picked up her water bottle triumphantly. "Can't work up a sweat without _that_. I'll just fill her up and be back." She bounded off into the small but densely thicketed trees of the bay, leaving Elsa and Jani alone.

Alone. With Jani. She was finally alone with Jani.

Even though she had planned this with her sister that morning, she felt a familiar kind of panic stirring in her. What was she planning to say? She had completely forgotten. Instead of intelligent thoughts, her skull was suddenly filled with nothing but the pounding of her own heartbeat.

She walked up to the beautiful boy while she still had the nerve. He shook his head, still looking in the direction Anna had left in. "That water bottle _sloshed_..."

Elsa sighed. "Anna isn't very good at being sneaky." _Still time to back out... breathe, girl, you can do this_. He smelt like spring leaves and fresh-dug earth.

Jani drew closer. "Why would she be... sneaky?"

Elsa had to force herself to speak. "I... I wanted to catch you alone." Her ears were drumming. _Running out of wiggle room... time to flee or take the plunge_...

"Oh..." His ears flushed pink, where they poked out of the sides of the tangling hedge of his black hair. She had a sudden mental image of sitting with her pirate boy, pulling a brush through his unruly locks, running a hand down... Her heart started to beat even faster.

Jani seemed to be struggling to speak as well. "I wanted to..." he hesitated, and started again. "You've been wearing a perfume. It's kind of sweet..."

Elsa smiled. He had noticed. "It's mostly cacao, with some sweet spices. A perfumer turned up in court and offered to make me a fragrance. He said to name the most wonderful scent in heaven or earth, and he would bring it to life."

"And you chose..."

"I think he was hoping I'd say 'A late summer evening overlooking the Tuscan sea' or something grand. But without thinking I just blurted out 'white chocolate pudding'. He looked like I'd hit him..."

Jani laughed. "Well, it was honest..."

He was just too darn edible for words. She wanted to take a bite out of that smooth, flawless cheek. Soft, inviting lips seemed to beckon her in...

Whatever invisible tether was holding her back, it snapped. Grabbing his face with one hand and circling the small of his back with the other, she drew him in close, and began to kiss him. The contact of their lips was electric. They seemed to sear her as she caressed his mouth with her own. She avoided bringing her tongue into play- Anna had said that took some practice to get right. She drank in his scent- pine needles and wild forest flowers and the delicate richness of hair and skin...

"Oh, _Heaven_ , you beautiful man..." she gasped, her shyness forgotten.

Thank _God_ he was the one male in the party who seemed to bathe... her hand moved through locks like black tangles of silk... she could feel him moving, responding to her kiss, returning it...

Then ecstasy imploded. He pulled back without warning, stepping slowly away from her, panic in his eyes. Eyes that seemed, for a moment, to be on fire.

"I need to..." He looked about him. _What did I do? What happened?_

"I need to see Rinne..." Jani, her first proper kiss, then practically fled from the clearing, disappearing from sight amid the mottled birch and aspen..

Slightly tearful, and utterly bewildered, Queen Elsa of Arendelle sat down by herself and tried to understand what had just happened. Maybe Anna would know...

. .

* * *

. .

After a few minutes, Jani calmed down enough to stop running. He tried to slow his breathing, to keep calm, to force the fire out of his eyes before someone saw him.

She had kissed him. She had kissed him, and he had kissed her back.

 _Beautiful man..._

And she didn't _know_. He hadn't told her yet. All his sweetest dreams and worst nightmares had somehow found common ground in reality.

 _Shit, shit, shit... I'm a monster. I'm like a liar, or a con artist, or a short-finger, or, or..._

He wasn't getting any calmer. Selecting a particularly sorry-looking birch, he expertly drove one fist into it, _hard_ , then the other. He'd stop when he felt better, or the tree fell down...

. .

* * *

. .

"It seemed to be going so well..." Elsa murmured into Anna's shoulder. She was wrapped in a three way hug between Olaf and her sister- she doubted Olaf knew what was going on, and, mercifully, he hadn't asked.

"I don't get it." Anna tried to think. "He definitely likes you. He isn't exactly subtle. You didn't _do_ anything weird... what did you say to him?"

Elsa ran her hand through her hair. "I... I didn't say much, really. Should I have asked permission?"

Anna snorted. "I think up _here_ you're being polite enough if you don't whack 'em over the head with a club first... although Myrtlemen might not approve of women taking initiative..."

Elsa shook her head. "I just don't know... I think I called him beautiful..."

Anna winced. "Elsa, you can't call boys beautiful."

"But..."

Her sister rolled her eyes. "I know you're my elder and all, but please listen. Boys are like puppies. They're sweet and soft, most of the decent ones, but like to bark and jump around and pretend they're big, bad wolves. And if you don't want to upset them, you have to play along. So, no calling them 'pretty', or 'sweet', either."

Elsa sighed. "There's something I'm missing, I just know it. He's hiding something. There's... _magic_ in him, I think. I can feel it."

Her sister raised her eyebrows. "Ahem. Are you _sure_ that's what you're feeling?"

Elsa contemplated blue burning amid shadow in the boy's eyes. Flame and smoke. And so many unexplained details. The letter? Could the letter be a part of this? "Yes."

Anna thought some more. "We'll corner him later on and ask him about it." She tapped on Elsa's shoulder. "Oh, and I remembered. Whatever you do, _don't_ say Jani is 'like a brother' to you. It _seems_ like a good thing, but I said it to Kristoff once and he thought I was breaking up with him..."

Even Elsa knew _that_...

. .

* * *

. .

In the end, the tree had given way first.

Flexing stiff knuckles, Jani looked down over the main camp from the crag on which he had built his own fire. It would do- he had access to one of the many little streams and rivulets which ran down the slopes here, and he could be alone for a spell.

The rest of the day's ride had been tense. He had stuck close to Rinne, far enough away from the two sisters that he could avoid meeting their gaze without it being obvious to absolutely everyone. Then, when evening had drawn in and it was time to make camp, he had hurried off before old Ukko could ask questions of his own.

He would tell her everything. He had to. Just... not now. He didn't know how. He could barely contain himself. Barely keep from shaking, or screaming, or killing something cute and fluffy. _In the morning, then..._

Rinne had been probing the soldiers surreptitiously, trying to see what would happen if it came to a stand-off between them and Niska. A couple were Kaarlo's men through and through, but most would probably just follow the loudest voice. There had to be some way to...

Lacking any appetite for supper, he sat down in front of the fire, not even bothering to set a watch. He'd find Apricot and the others quickly enough. He needed to get away. Away from humans. Away from Myrtle. Away from all these stupid, gnawing, interfering feelings...

Shutting his eyes, he slowly entered another world. The trees and the stones faded, and the crows in the sky burned like drifting blue stars...

. .

* * *

. .

The scout seemed to be napping. _Lucky us..._

Swinging from the shoulder, Hannu brought the stick of firewood down on the troublesome boy's head with a hard _crack_. He gave a kind of squeak, and toppled forward. Niska nodded approvingly to the larger man, and gestured to young Odd to bind the prisoner's arms and legs. This proved difficult, as he proved not to be wholly unconscious, and struck out at Hannu with a steel and leather boot which narrowly missed his unmentionables. A second blow from the stick seemed to subdue him enough to get his hands behind his back.

But... his eyes... no, he was just imagining things.

"Takes some knocking out, doesn't he?" remarked Hannu. "Stubborn bastard."

"Yes..." hissed Niska. "Well we'll see how stubborn he is once he's been put to the question for a few hours."

"But sir..." Odd was blubbing again. Weak little boy, but ultimately obedient. Niska had to work with what he had available.

"Quiet, little rat. This is no time to get soft on traitors." Hannu had the scout up on his knees, a hairy paw keeping a firm grip on the twisting spikes of his hair.

The boy had rather refined features for a peasant. No surprise the witch found him an agreeable distraction on the road. Something slightly Slavic in those cheekbones... was he really of Myrtle stock?... He found himself running a finger down the edge of a smooth jaw, tracing the line of the bone. A fresh suspicion started to coalesce...

Looking hard at the face in his hands, he finally saw it.

"Hey sir, what are you doing?" Niska raised a hand to silence his men, then, pulling aside the lapels of his prisoner's old naval coat, he grasped the edges of a grey shirt and tore.

It had been an effective disguise, he had to admit. Who would have believed it?

Odd and Hannu stared at their captive dumbfounded, taking in the lines of the neck, the exposed bindings. A large tattoo sat just below the collarbones, disappearing below the bandages, of raven's wings mingling with tree roots. Their dull, uneducated minds gradually caught up with events.

"I don't get it..." Hannu mumbled. "What does this all mean?"

Niska's mind worked faster- but then, so did a sheep's. "It means, my simple comrade, that we are heroes of the new order. Soon to be _wealthy_ and _celebrated_ heroes."

He adjusted his uniform. _Commander_ Niska had a rather fine ring to it...

"Well, plans change. We've just caught the lost Princess."

He took a sarcastic bow before the slumped figure.

"Crown Princess Janna Marttila. _Well_. An honour to finally meet you. Our Lord Protector eagerly awaits the pleasure of your company."

* * *

NOTES

* * *

I'm sorry this is such a long chapter. I couldn't find a good place to chop it in half...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

The next bit is going to be kind of a downer. I'll try to do a good job of it.

* * *

Πσαύην δ᾽ οὐ δοκίμοιμ᾽ ὀράνω δύσι πάχεσιν.

 _I would not hope to touch the sky with my two arms..._

-Sappho


	22. Chapter 22- All the Evil

CHAPTER 22- ALL THE EVIL

* * *

 _In which bad stuff happens. You know, be warned. This was never going to go smoothly._

* * *

"Elsa, are you sure you're okay?"

Anna stood beside her sister. She had said she was going to make their house for the night, but instead she had been staring at a patch of bare ground for several minutes, looking kind of lost.

"I'm a feeling a little tired... can I make the house later?"

"Wouldn't you be even more tired later?", an inappropriately cheerful voice chipped in. _Olaf, for crying out loud, stop..._

"Geez, of course, Elsa, don't worry about it." They did actually have _tents_ spare if Elsa preferred... her sister always asked too much of herself. Anna led her sister back to the fire- or what would be the fire once Gerda and another servant had managed to light it.

"You don't need to fuss over me, Anna, I'm fine..." _So_ like Elsa not to let anyone take care of her.

Gerda stopped working when she saw Elsa, and came over to join in the fussing. "Are you feeling ill, your Majesty?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, no, just... a difficult day."

BOY TROUBLE, Anna mouthed. Gerda smiled knowingly, and let them be.

She looked at her sister curiously. "Is this really all completely new to you?"

Elsa frowned, burying her head in her hands. "I barely went out for thirteen years, Anna..."

"But..." Anna shook her head. "You turned twenty-two last month. Was there not, you know, anyone? A tutor maybe? A footman you daydreamed about eloping with?" She didn't respond.

"Well, we'll sort it out. Figure out what his problem is." She rubbed her hands together. "Maybe I'll kick _him_ in the shins a couple of times..." Stupid lousy hard-knocks teaching style...

"Elsa! Anna!" Olaf was jumping up and down in from of them. "Elsa! Look up!"

Elsa looked up. "Olaf, what?"

He pointed to the other end of the camp, where something was happening. At the centre of it was Niska... and Jani.

. .

. .

They ran over- everyone did. It wasn't a pretty sight. Over by the mountain river they had chosen to camp at, there was Jani, bound and gagged, being held like some grotesque prize by a real big Myrtle soldier. That lieutenant Rinne and Jani hated, the skinny old one, was strutting about in front of him, gloating.

Blood oozed over Jani's forehead from his hairline. He looked like he had been pretty badly beaten up. His clothes were torn open, and on his chest she could see some kind of bandages over his...

Over his...

 _Oh... sugar._

"Queen Elsa, how nice of you to see us off!" Niska's tone was mocking and harsh. He grabbed Jani.. or... whoever that... person really was... by the hair, and angled... their face up to her.

 _I don't understand. Why is this happening?_

"I'm afraid I'll have to take your _pet_ with us, witch. The Princess is wanted at home- she's far too important to play man for an outlander pervert." Elsa went white.

He was Princess Janna? Wow... but he always seemed so... _boy_. Even down to the idiot bits. _She_ seemed. Whatever.

A lot of crows were circling, cawing to each other in the skies up above. Maybe they were expecting a death.

A third soldier had Jani's sword. Showing it off to his companion, he took a few practice swings, then inexplicably fumbled, hacking the other man's arm open. Swearing, he dropped the cutlass, which somehow rebounded, burying itself in his foot. His injured friend then clubbed him over the head. It would have been funny under any other circumstances.

"Sorcery..." Niska growled. "Leave her cursed sticker alone, I told you!"

"You're a sodding idiot, Niska!" Rinne shouted, red with rage. "How are you even going to lug her back to the city alone?"

Niska sneered. "The village has boats. They will be compelled to volunteer them. Thank you for your concern, but we will be fine."

"As for you, if a degenerate sorceress, her idiot sister, their simpleton abomination, a traitor and some tiresome biddies should all perish in the mountains together, I will not weep for long. If you try to _stop_ us, you die right now."

Elsa hadn't taken her eyes off Jani/Janna's face since Niska had started speaking. She was trembling like a leaf. The pieces of a long-neglected puzzle started to fit together in Anna's mind.

The captive groaned, and half-opened their eyes. Eyes which _glowed_ , crackling with energy. _Well, nuts. Magic. Elsa was right. But... didn't realise he was a she?_ The crows flying overhead went bananas, screeching and squawking, gathering together into a tight cloud which began to descend.

Swearing loudly, Niska swung a boot, hard, into Janna's face, knocking her onto her side. The birds collapsed into disorder, mostly screaming at each other. The light in her eyes faded.

"What in the name of buggery was _that_?!" someone cried- one of the Myrtleans, Anna assumed.

Rinne pointed his sword at Niska. "Jani's the new Lord of Crows, you slow bastards!" He looked around at the gathered crowd. "If any of you ever really cared about this country at what it means, then help me out- because it's _him_. Or _her_ \- I never knew and I never bloody cared..."

"Lies!" screamed Niska, spitting foam flecks from the edges of his mouth. "This _witch_ and her conjurations are nothing. As counterfeit a Crow Lord as she proved a man. Perhaps the work of her Arendelle _mistress_..."

Anna's sword was in her hand, still in its scabbard. She must have picked it up when she had heard the commotion. She sighed. She really hadn't wanted to die anytime soon. She had a dress picked out...

Drawing her weapon, she stood next to Rinne. _Wow_. She did _not_ like the look of this- several Myrtleans had gathered behind Niska. I guess they've made their choice... her one remaining guardsman had joined them, but they were still outnumbered. Elsa still wasn't moving. Snap out of it...

Niska grinned. "A girl, and two old soldiers. This will be short." He raised his blade. "For the Lord Protector. Long may he reign."

Rinne spat on the ground, and raised his own weapon.

"For the King."

The camp exploded into battle. Anna could see that pretty well all the Myrtlemen were fighting, mostly each other, but didn't know what side anyone was on. She didn't have to worry about that too much, though, because people kept trying to kill her, and that totally gave them away.

A couple of crows had even joined in the fighting- they seemed to be after Niska. He cut one out of the air with a swipe of his sword-

Jani screamed. Long, and loud. It was about the worst sound Anna had ever heard. They didn't seem to wake up again, though- just stayed slumped over, twitching.

Rinne had fallen. Anna couldn't stop to see how bad it was, so she rushed to Elsa's side. Elsa was still in shock, half-heartedly raising ice barriers to protect herself as Niska and another ratbag bore down on her, shattering them one by one. "Stop... stop..." she gasped. "I can't..."

Then Elsa looked down, hearing a splash. She was at the edge of the river, and her foot had gone in. Niska gave her an ugly smile.

"No more running, your Majesty. Time to see if you can die."

Elsa shook her head. Her eyes were like white hot stars of rage. "Why couldn't you..." Her body shook.

"Out of juice, witch?" Niska readied his sword.

"...just..."

Magic flashed from Elsa in a ripple of light. She fell to one knee.

"...STOP!"

The ground shook, and the air went cold, as the river reared up behind Elsa like a vast serpent, a twisting mass of snow and ice crystal which rose up into the air, looming over the human figures below. A tapering, swanlike neck grew a head with horns like icicle swords, and scales of pale blue sprouted over a colossal, reptilian body and lashing, razor-edged tail. Translucent wings like frozen mica formed and flapped at the air, testing their strength.

A swing of the dragon's white and jagged tail sent Niska and his comrade flying. They hit the ground and lay still, armour and uniforms ripped apart. The dragon screamed like chorus of Furies, and breathed a jet of white misty _something_ at another soldier, who... shattered. Anna wasn't even sure who he had been fighting with. Then it looked down at Elsa, with glowing blue eyes, and, scrabbling up onto a rock... _flew away_ , off into the mountains.

. .

. .

The battle was over after _that_. There were several wounded, and Gerda and her team of servants started seeing to them.

Niska was still living, unfortunately, and they had him tied up securely. He was not the only prisoner. The other soldier who had been struck by the dragon's tail was dead. Not the only death- including a soldier she had stuck herself in the heat of the battle. She thought she should probably feel something about ending a life, but... maybe she was just too overwhelmed with feelings already.

Rinne was dead.

Anna watched Janna, once the Myrtle soldiers who had joined forces with her and Rinne had untied her, drag herself over to her friend's body. For the longest time she just knelt there, swaying a little, one hand clutching at his blood-drenched shirt. In the fading glow of sunset, Anna could see her magic flashing on and off, its deep blue light penetrating her eyelids as she clung to the body. Her other hand held the broken body of a bird, squeezing it closely to her own bound chest.

Eventually she opened her eyes, and placed the dead crow reverently on the ground next to Rinne. As she pulled herself to her feet, stiffly, another crow landed on her shoulder, which she half-consciously patted.

Anna felt a tug on her dress, and looked around.

"Hello, Olaf. Are you okay?"

The snowman looked as traumatised as everyone else. "I don't _know_. So much has happened that I don't understand. So many people are hurt. And _can't_ be fixed..." As if to demonstrate, he pulled one of his twiggy arms off, letting it wave forlornly at Anna a moment, before planting it back in its place.

Anna gave Olaf a long hug. She needed one too...

Over her shoulder, she heard Olaf speak.

"At least those two are talking now."

With a horrible sense of foreboding, Anna looked around.

 _No, no, you idiot..._

Jani... Janna... was at the other end of camp, trying to talk to Elsa. Amid the sounds of wounded and busywork Anna could make out part of it.

 _Let me explain_ , she was saying.

 _But I am_.

 _Please, let me explain_.

Anna started to run. Maybe she could drag Janna out of there by her stupid big kicking feet before anything worse happened. Couldn't she see Elsa needed space?

Her sister was clutching at herself tight enough to draw blood, radiating panic. _The last time I saw her like that she... well, she nearly killed me_...

Anna ran up to them. Trembling, Elsa turned, and finally looked Janna in the face.

" _Leave_ ", she hissed, through gritted teeth.

"But-"

"Get away from me, you _freak!_ "

Janna went grey. Staggering backward a few steps, last of her strength gone, she turned and ran, her crow flapping after her.

Anna now knew what it looked like when someone's heart got ripped in two. _For pity's sake, Elsa... you won't feel good about that tomorrow..._

She didn't seem too happy _now_. Avoiding Anna's gaze, without another word she disappeared behind a screen of ice, which shaped itself into a castle tower around her; the tower rose higher, and higher, to maybe fifty feet. It had no door.

Anna ran around the whole thing, to be sure. No ladder. A smooth column of impenetrable ice- and somewhere up there was Elsa. Unassailable, and alone.

All around them, snow began to fall.

 _So much for not shutting me out, then_.

Blinking back tears, Anna turned to Olaf. "I... guess we'll be using those tents after all..."

. .

* * *

. .

 _Everyone knows_.

Jani collapsed in front of his fire, which was still barely burning. His head was swimming. All the evil in the world seemed to have just happened to him, all at once, and he couldn't... separate things... Rinne... Elsa... dragon? Mouse Eye. He had looked so small, still on the ground. The crow's murder had felt like a red-hot claw in his temple. His bruised head pounded. One of his ears wouldn't stop ringing. Concussion?

The morning seemed a hundred years ago. So much had changed in a few hours. So much had turned out so _wrong_.

 _Ukko_... Jani shuddered as his blood caught fire, wild magic pulsing, a powerful need wracking his body. Punish. _Burn_. Make them pay. Short fingernails clawed at the dirt. A wisp of smoke escaped his lips. He yearned...

"K-kill them all..." he gasped, without knowing whom he meant. Anyone. Everyone.

Then, just as rapidly, the fire guttered out, anger melting into something slower and sadder.

He looked into the sinking flames of the campfire.

"Am I wanted here?"

The fire said nothing, pitiless as it was.

He looked at his bedroll, lying by the embers. How long had it been, a week? He was talking to himself, he was making stupid choices, and something in his head needed to reset. He knew that when he woke up, it would not be as Jani. But that didn't matter anymore, did it?

Retrieving his lute- one of the few things he had from home- he sat up and tried to play. He could barely see straight for all the hammering in his head, and he hit the wrong notes as often as the right ones, but it seemed to calm him slightly.

In Myrtle there were songs for men and songs for women- songs of war and songs of tragedy. Only one kind seemed appropriate right now.

Taking a deep breath, Jani gently strummed the little lute.

. .

 _How right you were_

 _I can't deny_

 _To say we should have fled-_

 _How right you were  
How wrong was I_

 _The little ones are dead_

 _. ._

Apricot perched on his knee. He had frightened her earlier- he apologised with a gentle thought, and she gave a conciliatory croak. She missed them too.

The song continued. It had been written after some great military disaster. He forgot which-there were many.

. .

 _How right you were_

 _I can't deny_

 _To say 'Be slow to trust'_

 _How right you were  
How wrong was I_

 _Our house is turned to dust_

 _. ._

His voice was passable, but a clear and slightly piercing alto. He hadn't thought it wise to sing while his cover remained.

But... that didn't matter anymore, did it?

. .

 _How right you were_

 _I can't deny_

 _To say she would not stay_

 _How right you were  
How wrong was I_

 _She didn't last a day_

 _. ._

 _How right you were_

 _I can't deny_

 _There's nothing to be done_

 _How right you were  
How wrong was I_

 _To think we could have won_

 _. ._

He looked back at the camp. A tower of ice stood over it now, grim, foreboding, and lonely. Had he done that?

. .

 _How right you were_

 _I can't deny_

 _To say I lost my head_

 _How right you were  
How wrong was I_

 _No matter. We are dead._

 _. ._

 _. ._

 _. ._

 _. ._

Then he fell back on his bedroll, and finally shut his eyes.

 _Sorry Pappa. I screwed it all up. Lost my head. Everything is broken. Everything is spoilt._ _You_ _were right about me... I'm just a freak_.

A tear ran down his nose.

. .

* * *

. .

 _Everyone knows._

 _Everyone saw._

 _Everyone heard._

 _Everyone knows._

Elsa knew she should make a bed, but couldn't bring herself to get up. Sat on the bare floor, against a bare wall, in a chamber without windows or doors, she rocked back and forth, arms wrapped tightly around her knees.

Power rippled from her, leaking, bursting from the holes in her heart, overlaying the walls and ceiling and floor with ever more patterns of spiralling frost, expanding, branching, twisting out of the surfaces like dead branches.

Realising that she needed air, she reached out and made a window- a small one- partway up the wall. Moonlight poured in. How long had she been in here already, _not_ sleeping?

 _How could he do this to me?_

 _She. She did this._

Jani... Jani wasn't real. He didn't exist.

The ache in her chest was a lie. It was never real. There was no Jani. She told herself this, and perhaps some part of her believed it.

She had really fallen for it. She had wanted so hard to believe that she was past all this. Those stupid adolescent crushes. Those dreams. The giddy stupidity that took over sometimes.

 _I'm such a fool. I can't be free._

Raising her head, she looked at her arms. Spotted and smeared- they still had some of that soldier's blood on them. She looked out of the window, at the little patch of starry sky she could see. Somewhere out there was the dragon she had made. Where had it gone to? Why had it flown off? Without her...

She curled up on the ground, exhausted beyond words. Clutching at her face, she felt tears start to form.

"Oh, Pappa, I didn't want anyone to die..."


	23. Chapter 23- Janna

CHAPTER 23- JANNA

 _Arendelle lay in ruins. Chunks of architecture rose from the pulverised earth, half towers and broken walls, impaled on a ring of icy shards which rose high into the grey air, like a hundred jagged teeth, lit from within with crimson fire. A bitter wind blew over the devastation, and snow was falling. Here and there, Elsa could see the scattered remnants of everyday life- smashed crockery, a torn banner, a broken chair. A heavy rime spread over every surface._

 _She walked amid the pieces of her fallen palace, trying to find someone, or anyone. Except for the storm, the world was silent and dead._

 _This a dream, this is a dream, it's okay, I'll wake up soon..._

 _Within the ring of ice, a huge circle of ground had been completely flattened, stone ground to gravel. She walked toward the centre. She could just make out a figure there._

 _As she approached it, however, the air cleared, and she could see that it was not a person she had spotted, but a full-length mirror, standing in a frame of ice. Elsa looked at her reflection. She was older; her face was gaunt and cruel, her pale dress beautiful but foreboding, bristling with needles of ice like the thorns of a rose. The rose had faded from her cheeks- the skin of her face and throat was bluish white, her eyes devoid of warmth. A tall crown of ice sat upon her head- a ring of crystal daggers, red at the core._

 _Elsa tore the crown from her head, casting it to the ground, and turned away. She looked up, and she thought she saw her parents standing in the sky, tall as giants, arm in arm, looking like they had the day of the accident. They looked down at her, then lowered their heads in shame._

 _All around her, the wind was filled with mocking laughter. A closer chuckle, low and bitter, made her wheel around and look at where the mirror had been._

 _Now, in its place, there stood a throne of ice, tall, dark and gleaming. Sitting on the throne, cross-legged, was Mara._

 _She was cold and dead; frost clung to her grey cheeks, and her eyes were black, so, so black. Those eyes fixed on Elsa, filled with blame and loathing, and she spoke with a venomous hiss:_

 _Freak._

 _Elsa turned and ran, as fast as she could, faster than she had thought possible, until her lungs burned. All around her she could hear the whispering accusations._

 _She came to a cliff's edge, in a place she did not recognise. Below her she thought she saw land, but it was impossible to be sure, amid the thick and swirling clouds before her. The whispers grew louder, as if some malevolent force were hot on her heels. With no time to think, she wove a broad sheet of ice fabric, grasped it with both hands with both hands, and jumped_.

. .

Elsa awakes. As the memories of the previous day return to her, so does the fear, mingling with the dread of the nightmare which had already left her shaken. Of all nights, this had to be the one with the worst dream yet...

She doesn't scream. She leans hard against the icy wall she has thrown up around herself, and she cannot make herself utter a sound. The sound she would utter tears at her lungs, rises up towards her throat, but tangles like steel wires and catches there and she cannot _breathe_. A hundred feelings batter at each other in her mind and her heart, half unrecognisable in their frenzy. A smile. A wish. Papa's face frozen in oils, ever anxious, silently watching from an antique frame. A crowd drawing back in the darkness of a chilly summer evening, shouts of applause transmuted to horror. Blood on the ground, and over her. Burning eyes filled with pleading, giving way to shock, and hurt, and anger.

Her own words, cutting sharp against the ears of memory, curt and cruel.

 _Is that the sort of person I am?_

The sun is shining brightly. She must face them all. She focuses on steadying her breathing.

 _Conceal it, conceal it_...

. .

* * *

. .

The sun was already well above the horizon when Janna awoke, rising up out of a sleep as deep and dreamless as the womb.

She lay on her back with her eyes open, watching dispassionately as thick, swirling ribbons of pale grey cloud twisted across the soft blue of the morning skies, dancing back and forth across the face of the sun. The light flickered between the brightness of the dawn and the dimness of stormy weather. There was something unnatural about the clouds, and the chill wind which she could feel on her ears. She could sense it in her magic, hear the unease in the voices of the birds.

It hurt to blink on her right side. The cheek felt stiff. Her headache was gone, though, which surprised her.

She felt, as she always did at these times, reborn. There was something about these sleeps, when she switched over, which put everything at a distance. The fighting, the chaos and concussion, Rinne, Mouse Eye. _Her_ face, _her_ words... it seemed like something that had happened a week ago. As if, while she slumbered, and shifted, the dark wings of sleep had gradually smoothed jagged experience into clear and polished memory. Still just as painful, but easier to approach with a clear head.

Jani had screwed up, clearly. She knew that he had said and done all the wrong things, however well-meant. But at the same time, there was no justification for her treatment, and he shouldn't have taken it. She was royalty. A beggar princess is still a princess, and there are certain expectations regarding how a queen should address a fellow noblewoman, none of which involve personal insults.

Snarling under her breath, Janna sat up sharply. Putting weight on her arms caused sharp twinges of bruising pain to flare across her chest. She looked down. This wasn't good- she had slept in her bindings. She remembered the last time.

Having glanced around to make sure she had no visitors, she shrugged off her shirt, before slowly easing off the long strips of cloth and bandage she used to flatten her chest. The fabric clung to her skin, cemented by the sweat of the previous day, and of the night, so that she grimaced as she pulled it away from her sensitive skin. Then she carefully felt both breasts. Bruised, swollen. She swore, angry with herself. It was yet another stupid thing he had done yesterday that made her situation worse.

She seriously needed to wash. Fortunately he had at least, as ever, remembered to bed down at a remove from the rest of the party, out of direct sight, and near running water. Whatever the plans of the Arendelle party, she no longer needed to hide her communion with the crows, but she appreciated not being seen quite yet.

Wriggling out of the rest of her clothes, and grabbing her wash bag, she stepped down into the chilly water of the mountain stream, a little tributary which lapped around her calves, and slowly crouched down in it. She splashed the icy water over her head and shoulders, carefully wiping the grime and stickiness from her body.

Her bleeding seemed to have stopped, which could be seen as ironic. That was _something_ \- now she only had bereavement, heartbreak, humiliation, injury, and a burning blood grudge to make her irritable.

And the cold. God, but this water was _freezing_. Actually, the morning was unseasonably cold... Janna looked down at the scrubby alpine grass lining the bank. The leaves of which glittered with frost. _Ah_.

It was hopeless, she reflected. As Jani, he had let his infatuation take priority over practical good sense, _and_ his duty as a Marttila. How Elsa felt about restoring Myrtle and saving her brother was, ultimately, more important than how Elsa felt about her. So, maybe she should stop acting like a lovelorn teen, and start acting like a grown woman and a princess.

Splashing some more cold water on her hair, she pulled a hand mirror from the wash bag. Short hair was a new challenge. Before his flight, Jani had always tied his hair up and worn it under a short wig, but it hadn't seemed practical as a disguise for a whole week in the mountains.

Mostly it was a matter of distinguishing herself from Jani. His apparently messy hair was far more carefully managed than anyone probably suspected. A few tufts of hair here and _here_ suggested sideburns to the casual observer. Brushing the hair at the temples _this_ way gave the effect of a more masculine hairline. He also shaved, of course. The bald lip and cheek of a youth who barely shaves is still more convincingly masculine than the velvet down of a woman who need not, and it was surprising the little things people _would_ notice, while overlooking the completely obvious.

Rinne had taught him to shave, a long time ago. He had begged him, and the old man had grumbled, but relented, and shown the perennial runaway how to move a cut-throat razor across his skin safely. Janna sighed heavily, but did not allow herself to cry. Instead, she let the memory trickle down into her heart, to join the others in the deep, dark pool of anger she was gathering there, ready for the day she would return to Kaarlo. To good old Uncle Kalle.

The fire burned low and steady in her blood. There when she needed it, but under control. In the mirror, she observed the soft gleam of the black and blue in her two eyes.

 _Father. His bodyguard. Rinne. Mouse Eye. God knows how many others... You will pay for them all, the day you fill the bellies of my crows._

She brushed the hair on the sides back against the scalp, while allowing the top of her head to remain a spiky black mess. It seemed to work well enough. Her face still looked a little plain- and he hadn't packed make-up, _of course_. Her black eye joined up with a large and ugly bruise across her right cheekbone, which all the cosmetics in the world couldn't mask anyway.

It was no matter. She wasn't the dead one.

She walked back up to her gear, towelling herself off. She pulled on her breeches and then found her shirt. The shirt, a grey man's shirt, was slightly loose on her, all the better to conceal the bindings, and that pissing lieutenant had torn off half the buttons. Having a sudden idea, she slipped the shirt on, then wrapped the longest piece of her binding around her midriff, drawing the garment in. Then, if she actually _did up_ the navy blue silk waistcoat and sleeveless black leather jerkin she had been wearing over it, and tightened it at the back...

She held her mirror away from her, to try to see as much of herself as she could in it. It wasn't all that clear, but, yes, she had a waist now.

She fastened Snake's sword belt around her waist. The Crow Lord of Myrtle needed to look like she meant business. She left the long, heavy coat he had been wearing. He had needed it to hide his meagre hips, and his _marvellous_ legs, and the feminine lines of his neck, but it had sometimes been uncomfortable in the daytime.

She did check the pockets of the coat, though. As she had thought- they had been too sloppy to search it. Pocket knife, _check_. Wax, _check_. Ink bottle, _check_. String, _check_. Deck of cards, _check_. Silver coin, _check_. Lucky silver coin, _check_. Bag of finger bones, _check_...

Okay, she should really head down now.

It always seemed to be Jani who did the running away, and Janna who did the coming back and facing things. It was the pattern of her life. He was the part who could exist in the inns and out on the roads, where a woman was excluded or unsafe, and she was the part who could smile, wear a frock without wanting to stab someone...

She adjusted her collar, set her jaw, spat on the ground, and turned to walk down to the camp. She took a few tentative steps, and then paused. Damn it, she told herself, it was only fear. Pretty stupid fear at that- it was Elsa and Anna waiting down there, not a pack of wolves. What was she so afraid of? What else could they say to her? What worse could be done?

Sighing heavily, she sat down. She needed another few minutes. Just to collect her thoughts. Besides, she really _should_ check the skies...

. .

 _Closing her eyes, Janna enters the in-between space. Amid the boiling grey clouds of the vision drift crackling blue threads of energy. Some way off she part sees, part senses the fading, crimson line which was once Mouse Eye, lingering like a scar. Shaking off the thought, she grabs hold of the azure lifeline dangling before her, like the tail of a kite, and lets it carry her off into the morning skies, watching through the eyes of the crow she is guiding, feeling the hammering rush of the wind over its feathers..._

 _They are high above the camp. The humans are awake, milling around their constructions like industrious ants. Either dutifully or out of an infinite capacity for procrastination, Janna does not descend at once for a closer look, but wheels to east, north, and round to west, searching for obvious threats from the rear. She sees no deserters trying to slip away, no reinforcements from Myrtle hoping to ambush the camp. No beasts of note, no- thank goodness- angry or hungry draugs in pursuit. As her path carries her south, she sees a large mass of ice and snow seem to shift and move by itself. So, Elsa's dragon is still around. She will need to be told._

 _Finally descending, somewhat reluctantly, towards the camp, she passes low over Gerda and the other servants fussing over the baggage, and alights on an abandoned cooking tripod, ten feet from Anna. Anna is sitting on an upturned casket, resting her chin on her hands. Her expression is hard to read through a crow's eyes. Elsa is... not visible. Anna is looking at the tower of ice, which still stands in front of her. Snow has settled on the ground._

 _Anna turns and looks directly at the crow. Startled, Janna backs out of the vision, allowing the bird to fly off..._

. .

Well, that was not encouraging.

Janna stood up, patted herself down, and strode down towards to the main camp. Then she strode back up again. Because she should _really_ clean her teeth first...

* * *

 **NOTES**

Okay, it's been a tough couple of chapters. But, well, sometimes things have to get bad before they can get good. Everything is more out in the open now. I'm certainly looking forward to being able to write some happiness again in a couple of chapters' time- 22 _hurt_...


	24. Chapter 24- Trials and Ordeals

CHAPTER 24- TRIALS AND ORDEALS

* * *

"So, is Elsa...?"

Anna looked at Gerda questioningly. In her heart she knew- all the pieces fit together- but it was a huge revelation to digest, on top of everything else that was going on.

Gerda patted her hand. "Oh, sweetheart, did you really not have an inkling?" She looked up at the tower. "I always knew that girl would struggle when the time came to make a match..."

"So..."

Gerda nodded. "As a coot, poor thing. There were signs there to see- it's just that not many people were looking."

"Did you _say_ anything?"

Gerda looked horrified. "Who, me? I'm just an old servant, your Highness. I've no business to be sticking my nose in affairs of state." She sighed. "And Elsa's affairs are _all_ affairs of state, you understand. Even love affairs."

Anna thought about this. It was a horrible situation to be in. Elsa had always, always put Arendelle and her family ahead of her own desires, needs, even basic well-being. She had only just _kinda_ come to terms with her powers, after shutting herself away until she had gone half crazy. To have to deal with this, too...

But it didn't change the fact that Elsa had kept secrets from her. Basically _lied_ to her. Dragged her into the whole help-me-talk-to-these-stupid-princes business that had ruined a couple dozen weekends they could have spent doing... _anything_ else!... when it wasn't what she really wanted.

She hadn't really liked most of Elsa's suitors- neither had Elsa, which made sense looking back. But she had believed she was helping her sister find the same happiness _she_ had. She would have refused to cooperate if she'd known. It was just... _wrong_ , to marry without love!

She opened her hands when she realised she had been squeezing them into fists. Her nails had left four little red crescents on each palm. She'd have to calm down. It wouldn't do any good to try to talk to her sister when she was this angry.

She looked up at the tower. Of course, she had to wait until Elsa came down, anyway...

She groaned in frustration. "I don't know what to say to her..."

Somebody cleared their throat.

Anna looked up at Janna Marttila.

"Um, hi."

"Hi."

Gerda got up, and made some excuse to leave, though not in an unfriendly sort of way. Anna gestured to the rock the old servant had been using. Janna hesitated for a moment, then took a seat. "Thanks..."

She seemed to be worried she was unwelcome. _Like it's her fault my sister is a stinky liar?_ Anna offered her a biscuit thingy from their breakfast, which she stared at suspiciously. It was like taming a squirrel... then Janna accepted the biscuit thingy, ate it, and seemed to calm down a bit.

They did have a lot to talk about, though.

The ferryman and his kids had arrived earlier- they were meant to meet them a few miles south to take them across another stretch of water, but the sight of an ice dragon taking off in the distance had clued them in that something bad was going on. He had already told Anna and the others a bit of what this whole 'Crow Lord' spookiness was about.

Basically, Janna was a kind of super-Myrtlean bogeyman meant to lead them into glorious something-or-other. Just like the magic monk in that crazy story he had told. Only they were all meant to be boys- first-born sons. So everyone was a bit confused.

To start with, her conversation with Janna covered most of the same ground again. Eventually Anna had to ask about the awkward stuff, though.

"Back in Arendelle, we have this blacksmith called Sara."

Janna looked blank. "Um, okay?"

Anna frowned. "It's difficult to... She used to be called Sjurd, back when I was little. Big, burly man with a beard to his belt. But one day he started turning up in a dress, and telling everyone to call him Sara now."

She fiddled with her plaits. "With your whole 'Jani' deal, I wondered if you were alike. Wanting to be a boy. But now you're... different."

Janna shook her head. "'Wanting to be' anything doesn't come into it. If I follow you, this Sara _is_ Sara. She doesn't have to _want_ to be, and she doesn't have a choice. Who would _want_ to spend their life struggling? Who would _choose_ to be mocked and ostracised?" She looked at her hands. "And... I'm Jani. Sometimes."

Anna tried to process this.

"So, you _are_ like Sara..."

"Yes."

"Except it kinda... _wears off_..."

"If that's... I suppose... no!" Janna rubbed the back of her neck. "It's... I'll be a girl. For days, sometimes weeks. But then one day I'll go to bed, and some tiller in my head flips to the other side, and I wake up a man. And I _know_. I just _do_." She held herself tightly. "Nothing fits. My clothes. My body. Everything is just wrong. The only way for me to have a moment's peace of mind is to accept it. Live it, as long as it lasts."

She sighed bitterly. "Mama and Pappa didn't mind, early on. Little tomboy, rolling about with a wooden sword, having fun with the guards. When I got older... I guess it stopped being _cute_."

She looked at Anna again. "Hey... I know you don't owe me any great favours at this point, but..."

She looked up at Elsa's tower. She seemed... nervous. The crazy Myrtlean who would happily dive into a pack of wolves for candy and giggles.

"Can I... can I borrow your make-up? Mine is back at the castle, probably. I don't think I can face her like this..."

"Of course, absolutely." Anna led Janna over to her things, where she helped herself to lipstick and mascara. It was a good thing their complexions weren't too different.

"So, you dyed your hair, huh?" she said, feeling the need to make conversation.

Janna nodded. "It's naturally strawberry blonde. That's why I look sort of like the ghost of an _actual_ dark-haired person."

"And the eyebrows, too?"

"Yep. We used the stuff Rinne has... had... to darken his temples. Needed the whole bottle, ha."

Anna didn't ask anything else. Once Janna was finished, she looked up at her. "How do I look?"

"Amazing." Anna wasn't lying- Janna looked gorgeous, in a slightly scruffy way. She was trying to figure out how she hadn't realised the truth about Jani before. She supposed Janna _did_ have quite strong shoulders, in the way gymnasts and acrobats sometimes did, but... maybe people just saw what they expected to see. The features that made Janna a _slightly_ boyish kind of beautiful in turn making Jani a girlishly pretty man. She also had an impressive nose on her for a girl. Not _huge_ or anything, just... defined. Hers and Elsa's were little buds on the ends of their faces.

She stood up, and adjusted her waistcoat and things. The cleavage was new, too. Maybe it was a sort of signal- people were supposed to look at it and go 'Oh, she's showing her tattooed boobage- she's being a girl right now.' Anna would certainly need all the help she could get keeping track.

A noise came from the ice tower. Janna nearly jumped out of her skin before she collected herself, standing very straight and still.

A door formed in the base of the tower.

It opened, and, cautiously, Elsa stepped out.

She looked gorgeous too- even though she'd run off and hid somewhere all night. It must be so convenient to be able to fix your dress and hair with your mind... she looked pretty pale though. Like she hadn't really slept. No wonder.

She took a step backwards when she saw Janna. Her cheek flushed, her jaw clenched. Neither of them said anything for some seconds.

Then Janna bowed, formally and politely, not in the half-mocking way he normally did.

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

Elsa took a deep breath, and nodded in reply. "Princess Janna of Myrtle."

The atmosphere was beyond tense. It was as if they were scared of each other.

Janna continued. "You were my father's most faithful and honoured ally in peacetime. In the light of my family's overthrow, and my royal brother the king's likely imprisonment, I humbly, and formally, request asylum in your kingdom. If this is not acceptable, then I request to be allowed safe passage from your kingdom to my mother's folk in Holmgard."

Elsa looked hard at the woman she had recently kissed, and even more recently humiliated, using the language of diplomacy. Anna finally understood. _Oh, Elsa. She's trying to make it easy for you_...

She had once explained it to Anna herself. _I know it seems stuffy, Anna, but diplomatic courtesy exists so that even people who have hurt each other badly can talk to each other respectfully, and civilly, and maybe come to some peace_...

"You're still here, your Highness", Elsa said, softly. "I... didn't know if you would be."

"I will not abandon you!" Janna said, a little louder than she had probably meant. Then she remembered herself. "That is to say, whatever your decision, your Majesty, I will see you safely home. I swear it."

Elsa considered. She maintained a chilly look which probably fooled everyone except Anna. Eventually she sighed.

"We will honour past friendships. Princess Janna, as sovereign Queen of Arendelle I do grant you sanctuary in our kingdom. Once we actually get there."

Janna bowed again. "I thank your Majesty. Your kindness and courage is an example to all."

 _Was that sarcasm?_ Anna couldn't quite tell. Elsa's nose seemed to twitch suspiciously as well.

. .

. .

Janna stepped away. "Well, this is all very nice, but I have prisoners to deal with."

She went and spoke to her Myrtlemen- the ferryman, his two sons, and the two living and unbound soldiers had been standing guard over Niska and his conspirators.

Then she found a raised spike of rock at the highest point of the camp. Deftly scaling it, she stood up straight and clapped her hands.

"Speed it up, lads. Haven't got all day 'ere."

The captive men were dragged before Janna, securely bound. The bodies of the Myrtle dead were also carried up and placed at the base of the rock where she stood, maybe ten feet up.

Janna raised her hands, and a vast cloud of crows swarmed down onto the camp, gathering on the ground around the Myrtleans in a bustling ring of black feathers and sharp, narrow bills.

Janna's eyes burned brightly, and darkly. "The court is seated." She pointed to the soldiers- a man in his prime and a teenage kid. "Odd and Roar, step forward."

The pair came before her, hesitantly. Roar saluted instinctively; Odd followed suit.

Janna regarded them with a faint smile, arms folded behind her back.

"Soldiers of Myrtle, who am I?"

Odd, the kid, spoke first. "You're the Crow Lord, miss." Roar whispered in his ear. "I mean, your Highness."

"Odd, you helped Niska ambush me. What made you turn against him?"

Odd swallowed. "H- he tricked us, Lady Crow Lord. He said you was a traitor. And then he killed the crow." He shook his tousled head. "That ain't _done_."

The Princess' eyes flashed. "Indeed it isn't. Will you swear yourselves to me? Both of you?"

Both swore emphatic oaths to Janna and her brother the new king, and drew back hurriedly from the crow circle.

Then Janna came to judging the dead. Apparently that was done up here, and not crazy at all... As traitors, she declared that their bodies were not to be buried but taken to high ground and left for Janna's birds.

Their possessions were divided among the victors. The man Anna had run through had been called Hannu. On Janna's command, one of the ferryman's sons brought her his sword and purse, and pointed out which of the shaggy Myrtlean horses had been his, but was now hers by right of combat.

Anna held the man's things, a little stunned. She remembered washing his blood off her sleeve. She didn't want to think about him having a name, or a horse who recognised him, or a... favourite hat.

Although... this sword was better than the one she had been using. A proper naval cutlass, with a brass guard, and no rust on the blade.

Awesome.

Then Janna came to judging the living.

Niska, still bound hand and foot with rope, pulled himself, with some difficulty, to his feet, in spite of his wounds, and looked Janna in the eye. He sneered derisively.

"Is this a court?" He looked around. "Don't play at war and politics, little girl."

"Niska." Janna spat, ignoring him. "You willingly joined with the traitor Kaarlo, who murdered the king to whom you both swore allegiance. You had a part in the death of my oldest friend and ally, your own superior officer. You have slain my familiar." The crows around him stirred threateningly. From her perch above, their mistress looked down, grim faced and unforgiving, dark hair fluttering in the breeze. "For each of these crimes, the sentence is death. For two, you must meet with my crows. It seems unlikely, but have you any defence?"

Niska snorted. "Can the theatre, brat! Your house is done. Kaarlo's the only one who can make us great again!" He gestured with bound hands to a slightly startled Elsa, who was standing off to the edge, observing things uneasily. "Is _that_ what we're supposed to be? Like all the others? Trading and farming and holding tea parties? Bouncy, happy rabbits? Bugger that with a pitchfork- we should be _wolves_. What gives _you_ the right to stand over us? You don't know any more about being a Myrtleman than your dainty father. Myrtle's supposed-"

"I AM MYRTLE!" Janna thundered, fire flashing in her eyes. Even the sky seemed to darken. " _Verinen hampaat ja puinen luut!_ What gives me the right? If I want a right, I'll bloody well _take_ it, _and_ the box it came in. I am _everything_ you imagine yourselves to be, in your facile, nostalgic dick fantasies. The Black and Blue that Niklas knew. That toppled the tyrants. That toppled the witches. That toppled the Empire."

She shook her head. "Shit, and I'm right in _front_ of you, and you still can't... oh, _forget_ it."

She pointed to the high ground. "A lot of birds for one worm. The sentence is death."

The gathered crows leapt on the prisoner, and began to drag him up to their feasting ground with strong feet and sharp, curved beaks.

As the screaming, gargling Niska disappeared from view, to Anna's relief, the next prisoner was brought forward. Like Niska, he wore the red scarf. Unlike Niska, he accepted sentence silently. Janna commanded that he be taken off and killed with the sword. She got the feeling that in Myrtle this was thought of as merciful. Well, it _was_ compared to whatever was happening to Niska over the hill...

 _Jeez, Janna. I know we're up in the mountains and we're sorta halfway at war, but should we have a jury, or something?_

The last prisoner was brought forward. Edvin, the mail officer, squinted up at the dark figure who would determine his fate. He was a sparse-haired man of fading years, with a pronounced stoop.

"Officer Edvin Leinonen."

"Yes, my Lady."

Janna raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're getting more respectful as you go along."

She pointed down at him. "You joined with Kaarlo's kind and wore the scarf. You served his creatures and relayed messages for them. You did not aid my loyalists in battle when you had every opportunity. What say you?"

Edvin hung his head. "I joined with _neither_ side in the battle, my lady. I... am not the swordsman I once was. As for the scarf, I was afraid of what Niska or Frans might do to me if they feared treachery. I was in no position to defy them."

Janna's gaze bore into him unsympathetically. The burning magic in her eyes had not faded since sentencing Niska. "Is _that_ your defence? That you were a coward?"

Edvin nodded, not raising his eyes. "I suppose it is."

"Not good enough", she snarled. "Not if better men did the right thing and perished, when you could have picked up your sword and helped them. The only sentence-"

"Wait!"

Janna paused, and looked down to where Elsa was standing, arms folded defensively.

"Queen Elsa. Have you something to contribute to these proceedings?"

Elsa collected herself, before stepping forward. "Princess Janna. I wish only to appeal for clemency for this man, in light of the blood already spilled."

Janna looked hard at her. Anna could not read her expression.

She shook her head. "That is not how justice works in the north, your _Majesty_. I cannot spare the guilty without cause."

Elsa was not giving up. "Is there nothing you can do for him? No mercy?"

Janna flinched. She looked away from Elsa, but seemed to be thinking carefully.

 _Come on, Janna... she just saw you order a man to be eaten alive. Budge a bit. Don't let this be her first impression of girl-you..._

Janna sighed, and rubbed at her eye wearily. Then she addressed the crowd. "Is there any advocate for this man? Has anyone _anything_ to offer in his defence?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Anna's heart sank.

Then a crow flew up to Janna's perch, landing on her hand. "You?" she asked it, slightly taken aback.

The Crow Lord and the crow stared at each other for some moments, beak to beak. There was clearly some conversation going on which Anna couldn't hear.

When Janna spoke again, her voice was cracking slightly. "I see. Thank you, Wash."

She released Wash into the air, and leaped silently down to the ground, coming face to face with the confused Edvin. The raven landed back on her hand.

"You raised this crow?"

Edvin looked at the bird carefully. "Puddle? Yes, from an egg. He's been missing for days. I was... worried."

Janna smiled, ever so slightly. "He apologises for that. I required his services." She nodded to the crow, and it hopped onto the man's shoulder, making him jump slightly.

"Swear your oath, and continue to serve faithfully, Officer Edvin." The big, black bird flapped and croaked happily. The bewildered mail officer stammered out several rambling promises of loyalty and dutifulness, before backing away in a hurry, as if afraid she might change her mind about sparing him if he hung around too long.

The prisoners dealt with, Janna spoke with the ferryman. They still had to take a barge across one more stretch of water before heading back up into mountains.

While stuff was being dealt with, Anna finally went up to speak to her sister. It was weirdly awkward.

"Erm... hi."

Elsa smiled weakly. "Hi."

Anna pulled her into a hug. Elsa squeezed her back.

"Are you okay?" she asked, into a face full of blonde hair.

"I don't know... she's still here, Anna."

"Yeah. Just as well, or we'd be stuck."

Elsa pulled away. "I know, but... she tricked me..."

Anna shook her head. "I don't think it was a trick... Elsa, why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you? But you know I... no, you don't mean that." Elsa walked away. "I... can't talk about this. Not now."

"But you're-"

"I'm _not_. She _tricked_ me. I'm the _Queen_ , Anna..."

Anna let her go. But they were going to have to finish this conversation some time.

Through the whole process of organising the party for the day's journey, Elsa barely seemed to take her eyes off Janna, although she pretended not to be whenever their eyes met. _If you're going to be in denial, Elsa, could you at least be subtle?_

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa kept her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. This ferry journey wasn't any easier than the first.

The planks beneath her feet kept shuddering and shifting. The water was troubled, which was her own fault. She was trying to make the weather warmer, but there was too much.. buzzing in her head. Too much chaos.

She could hear them all talking behind her. Talking about her. _Don't they know I can hear?_

"Why is Elsa so upset? She isn't talking to anyone..."

Elsa could hear Anna whispering to Olaf.

"You think? She doesn't _seem_ very happy."

More whispering ensued.

"Well, _sure_ she does. _You're_ a woman, and you two have slumber parties all the time."

Anna gave a kind of frustrated snarl, and there was yet more whispering, which continued a long time, while Olaf hummed and hawed.

 _Please, God, let this conversation be over._

"So... " Anna seemed to be giving up. "Are they actually all calling you ' _Lady_ Crow Lord' now?"

"Yeah. 'Crow Lady' sounds too much like 'Cat Lady'."

Anna laughed out loud. "That's perfect! You're the Crow Lady! With a million crows, and no teeth, and a hand bag full of birdy treats."

"No I'm not."

"Frightening the neighbours' kids."

"Enough. I'm not funny. I'm very serious, and dread, and things."

"Dread and things."

"Quite. Sometimes I'm also spooky. You know, the first of us, Niklas, was always called Lord of Crows. It started to change to Crow Lord later on. My personal theory is that, with a Myrtle accent, 'Lord of Crows' sounds too much like 'Lot of Crows'. You know- One guy goes 'Hey, there's the Lord of Crows!', and the other goes 'I know, dozens of the bastards. But who's that nutter talking to them?'"

 _They're talking like nothing happened. She nearly killed that man._

 _But she didn't..._

Olaf spoke up. "Janna, I don't get it. If you're a girl, why are you still doing the voice?"

There was a pause.

"This is my actual voice."

"Oh. I mean, oh, really? It's nice, sort of... throaty."

Once again, there was quiet for a few moments. Waves splashed against the barge.

"So, you sent the message to Kristoff?"

"Yes."

"Thanks."

"It's okay. It is hard to... not be able to speak to someone you care about."

Elsa tried to focus on breathing steadily.

"Why isn't Elsa talking to us, Anna?"

 _I'm trying not to kill everyone on this barge. It would only take a second. A single unguarded impulse._

 _My heart pulses. Get it under control, Elsa. I... she's upwind. I can smell her. Flowers and smoke..._

 _I'm not. I can't be._

"I think... I think she needs time, Olaf..."

"Maybe not." Janna's voice came low and quiet. "Does anyone _really_ forgive and forget? The big stuff?" She sighed. "The things which _really_ wound?"

 _Good question..._

* * *

 _I wake, think, burn and weep; before my eyes_

 _she who unmakes me stands for my sweet pain;_

 _war is my state where wrath and sorrow reign,_

 _and only in the thought of her is peace._

 _So from one clear and living fountain pour_

 _the sweet and bitter that I feed upon;_

 _one hand alone pierces and makes me whole;_

\- Petrarch

* * *

 **NOTES**

They'll get there, I promise...

Thank you to everyone who follows this fic, and for all your kind words. A happy and prosperous new year to you all.

 _. ._

 _Verinen hampaat ja puinen luut= Bloody teeth and wooden bones_


	25. Chapter 25- Into the Woods

CHAPTER 25- INTO THE WOODS

* * *

"ICE?!"

The Myrtlean crewman shrank under Captain Rajala's stare. "Yes, sir. The whole hold is full of it." He pointed downwards vigorously, in case the Captain needed help finding the bottom of a trading ship after thirty-five years at sea.

He strode over to the commander of the Bellflower, the captured ship he had just come aboard, and pressed the edge of his cutlass under his chin. "Is this some kind of a joke?"

Pressed up against the painted gunwale, the beleaguered seaman shook his greying head as vigorously as he could without slitting his own throat. "Our cargo is ice... um, Captain. Bound for Celestine and then the lands to the South."

The captain paused, bewildered. "They buy _water_?"

The commander nodded- carefully, as before.

"You're shitting me."

"I am not, Captain. Arendelle's doing good business selling ice to warmer lands. For meat lockers and the like."

Rajala stepped back, lowering his sword, and looked around him. The teal trim on the sailcloth. The cheerful, flowery paintwork on the hull and every available wooden surface barring the deck, as if they were in a Christmas market in Tempel...

This was an Arendelle ship. The land of the Snow Queen.

He could see his men shifting their feet uneasily, glancing down. _Magic_ ice. How was he going to sail back to Myrtle with a hold full of magic ice?

A kick sent the unfortunate seaman tumbling overboard. Rajala tried to think. This was a fine ship, for a foreign build. Not a warship, but supply craft were in demand. It wasn't a total loss...

A little later, with a _clang_ of released grappling hooks, the Bellflower moved free of the much larger Myrtlean warship it had been snapped up by, and started to make headway to the north. A small, black and blue sail now flew from atop its main-mast.

Back on his own vessel, a drained mug of grog in his hand, Rajala watched it sail off with the indifference of faded temper. Selling ice. Outlanders were mad. Still, he had assigned a skeleton crew to take the ship up to Myrtle under his own banner. Small fry. The other captains would laugh at him.

Still, better luck tomorrow, he told himself. Some ship from the west with tea or silks. Not _water_...

. .

* * *

. .

Down in the dark hold of the Bellflower, Otso held a trembling lamp aloft, as he walked between bound stacks of translucent ice. _Go down and inspect the cargo_ , they had said. _What are you afraid of_ , they had said. Why? _It's ice. We know it's ice. Why do I have to be down here?_ Not that he was scared, exactly. Or even if he was, slightly, it was only sensible under the circumstances.

He stood there, surrounded by the witch's craft. He had heard that the Snow Queen could turn people to solid ice if she wanted. The way one story went, she would carry young men off on her sleigh, kiss them to make them forget about their own loves and families, and take them to her palace, where she would have her way with them. Then they'd be turned to ice, statues to decorate her icy halls forever.

 _Did the statues not have any kecks on, then?_ He'd always wondered that.

The ice gleamed under the glimmering lamplight, reflections illuminating the edges like the back of a cat's eyes, so that it seemed to glow from within.

What if that was what these blocks were? People who had fallen afoul of the witch, squished up into lumps?

A noise from the gloom nearly made him jump out of his skin.

A scurrying, scuffling noise, pattering from one end of the hold to the other. Mice? No, too fast, surely. Then there was another. Then he could have sworn he heard an unearthly chittering sound, like the laughter of a tiny, demoniacal baby.

Then he saw it, and he was running, running out of the hold, scrambling up the ladder, charging onto the top deck, screaming like a child. That ghostly apparition- white as snow, all cavernous mouth and dark, lidless eyes...

. .

. .

Back in the hold, Otso's lamp lay on the planks, forgotten, slowly rolling back and forth with the movement of the waves.

A small, white figure sat on a block of ice, chortling merrily to itself as it heard the humans up above screaming at each other.

A second snow baby popped up out of its hiding place among the ice blocks, and then a third.

Finally, a loud yawn from the sacking piled at the back attracted their mercurial attentions, and they drifted over to where their favourite pet was just waking up.

Sven shook his head, and looked around curiously. It was dark. The floor rocked. He was still on that ship...

Little Ole and Dole held up a carrot between them, grinning. Doffen was chattering wildly about something.

The carrot smelt amazing.

He took a bite, and crunched away happily.

. .

* * *

. .

Janna sipped at the stew in her hand, barely registering that it was not all that bad. That Gerda knew how to improvise.

They had ridden all afternoon. How many times had Elsa glanced over at her, then away again? Well, Janna knew, having fine peripheral vision and a horrible gift for not forgetting things. _Nineteen_. That was practically an addiction.

It was still bright daylight- they had to stop frequently on account of the wounded. It took most people a long time to make new blood. As for her, her bruises were already browning, and her only headache was metaphorical. And blonde.

There she was, across the smoke of the fire. Sipping at her stew, delicately spooning up the lumps. How did she make eating look so elegant? She ate sandwiches without leaving so much as a crumb around her mouth. Anna was practically feral in comparison. Janna crunched apples like a horse, while Elsa could take a bite out of one and chew it with as much sophistication as a sommelier testing a fine vintage. Was there a school which taught this? All her movements had such effortless refinement, and now she was consuming the same stew as everyone else with nary a slurp or burp to betray some fallibility. It was... _Why am I watching this woman eat? Why am I staring at her finishing a meal like it's a strip tease or something? What the hell is wrong with me?_

Elsa delicately licked stew from a finger. _Damn..._

 _Why do I even care, still?_ One kiss under complicated circumstances, a whole lot of dancing around, one savage beating, and now the woman hated her. She had waited too long, Niska had moved first, and everything was too broken to even get her head around. This was when any but the most pathetic no-hoper would cut her losses and move on. Focus on what could actually be fixed.

But here she was, lingering. Like a kicked mongrel waiting for her mistress' voice. She wished she were another person so she could slap some sense into herself.

Elsa looked up at her, suddenly. Startled, she looked down, pretending to be focused on her meal. She could feel the Queen's eyes on her, and she couldn't move. She could hardly breathe. A tear ran down the bridge of her nose, landing with a _splish_ in her bowl. She prayed it wasn't visible. She had a reputation to maintain, after all...

. .

. .

Elsa stood up, and walked away from the fire. Anna got up and followed after her. She had had more than enough of this nonsense.

"Elsa! Where are you going?"

Elsa stopped and looked back. They were a couple of hundred metres from the others.

"Please, Anna, I just wanted to be alone for a while."

"But we've barely spoken..." Anna drew closer. "Elsa, you're my sister. What's going on with you? Better yet, what's going on with you and Janna- she just _cried_. That's _disturbing_."

"What's going on? There you go, siding with her, chatting away on the ferry like nothing ever happened, after what she _did_ to me, and _I'm_ doing something wrong?"

Anna shook her head, sadly. "I know it's hard, Elsa. It was an awful day for everyone. But... she's lost _everything_."

Elsa clutched her fists tightly. Anna hoped she wasn't losing control.

"Why is everyone telling me how I should feel? Don't I have a choice in the matter?"

"In your feelings? That... sort of depends on what you're talking about..." Anna answered, carefully.

"Now how am I supposed to make a match after _this_?" Elsa brushed away tears. "There will be... rumours. Everyone will know. People will talk about me. _Joke_ about me."

"But Elsa, you're-"

" _Don't_ talk like that." Elsa shuddered. "Oh, what does it even matter? Anna, you are a princess, but I am Queen! Mamma and Pappa taught me always to put the kingdom _first_."

Anna tried to reach for Elsa, but she brushed her aside.

"Oh Elsa, Mamma and Pappa wanted you to be happy-"

"Well you could have fooled me!"

It was half a shout, half a scream. Anna stumbled back in shock. Even Elsa seemed dazed, covering her mouth with both hands and falling to her knees. Spirals of frost spread across the grass.

Anna tried to stay calm, although she was angry, and upset, and hurt. "Elsa. Your people _love_ you. _I_ love you. Just... stop."

Elsa looked up, not to Anna, but to the sound of beating wings.

The ice dragon alighted on the ridge not far from them, more gracefully than Anna would have expected for something the size of a house.

They both stepped towards it, cautiously. The dragon watched both of them with hollow eyes aglow in a face of snow and ice. It huddled down, razor tail whipping back and forth behind it, like an anxious cat. Wings of sheer ice spread like lace across skeletal ice frames, which twitched about, testing the air.

As they got near it, it panicked and barked a warning at them, shuffling back a few feet. The bark nearly knocked Anna off her feet, and left frost on her eyebrows.

Elsa grabbed her by the shoulders. "You have to stay back. I think I can talk to her..."

Anna looked at the towering mass of jagged icicles. "You think it's a she?"

Elsa shrugged. "I'm just guessing", she admitted. She neared the dragon gradually, hands raised, like she was trying not to spook a horse. When she placed a hand on its snout it reared up, and Anna was afraid Elsa would be torn to shreds, but then it dropped back down onto four feet, and allowed her to do it again.

Slowly, Elsa worked her way down the dragon's neck, cooing, gently patting and stroking her creation. Eventually she stood by its shoulder. Then it lowered its front section, resting its head on the ground.

Elsa took a deep breath. "I think I'm supposed to..." She grabbed the base of a wing, as gently as she could, and clambered onto the beast's back.

She kept hushing and cooing the creature to keep it calm, but it seemed to accept her sitting on it.

Anna smiled. "Well. I guess you do have a way with the ladies..."

In retrospect, about the stupidest, most insensitive, and most inappropriate thing she could have said, under the circumstances.

Elsa looked hurt. Tendrils of red and black spiralled within the blue glow of the dragon's body, and it roared. Then it and Elsa took off, flapping away into the sky.

Crushed, Anna watched them leave, shrinking into the distance, silhouetted against the setting sun. Had... had Elsa left her again? Did people really never change?

Why hadn't she kept her mouth shut for once?

"No, no, no..."

She looked around. Janna and Olaf were there. Janna seemed to be panicking. She knew how she felt.

Anna sighed, rubbing her arms in the residual cold. "I guess she did want to be left alone."

Janna shook her head, and pointed in the direction Elsa had flown off in. "Did that look controlled to you?!" She ran her hands through her dark hair. "Of all the ways she could have gone... she's headed right into the high forest! Crashing, more like..."

Anna frowned. "Is that bad? What's in the high forest?"

Janna growled. "Gods, demons, and ghosts..."

* * *

 **NOTES**

Okay, that's another chapter. I've been working as hard as I can to finish these over the break, since I'll be working extra hours in January and my writing is likely to slow _way_ down...


	26. Chapter 26- Stranded

CHAPTER 26- Stranded

* * *

Spiralling through the air in a kind of panic, the dragon bumped against one treetop, then another, nearly shaking Elsa off, before it swung low towards the ground, skidding to a halt against a rocky outcrop at the edge of the tree line.

Thrown clear of the tumbling beast, Elsa found herself suddenly airborne in a quite different way to before. Seeing rocky ground shooting up towards her face, she stretched out her hands and filled the general area in front of her with as much snow as she could muster.

The long and the short of it was, she ended up eight feet deep in a twenty foot instant snowdrift, which was like a world of cushiony comfort after clinging onto the angular spine of the ice dragon for dear life a moment before.

She found she couldn't really breathe, though, and so she quickly dissolved the snow, letting herself sink down to ground level as her creation dematerialised.

She stood there, feeling rather battered and bruised, and looked around her in the twilight. On one side of her was a rock face which would have been scalable to an experienced climber, but definitely wasn't for her. On every other side she saw a dense forest of pines, tall and dark-needled. The air was cold, even in summer, and part of her instinctively knew that this was about the only time of year when there wouldn't have been snow on the ground anyway.

The dragon was flapping off into the distance, having thought better of saying hello to its troublesome creator again. It was hard not to feel rejected.

 _Oh no. Anna. I left... after all that. What must she think?_

She had to get back to the others. Elsa tried to figure out which direction to head in. It was roughly away from the sunset. Straight into the woods.

Mind you, _every_ path from where she stood was straight into the woods.

There was no point in hesitating. She had no food, and every delay in getting home put Arendelle in greater danger. Steeling herself, she stepped into the forest.

. .

* * *

. .

"Because I'm going after her, that's why!" Janna looked through the bag one last time before laying it over the back of her little palfrey's saddle.

"By yourself?" asked Anna, incredulous. "I thought those woods had all the evil in the world in them, or something."

"Magic. Very dangerous magic." Janna rested her head against the saddle. "If you want to search an ocean, send a fish..."

Anna fidgeted with one of her plaits, looking at the deep blue-green sweep of the high forest across the feet of high, grey mountains. "What about Elsa?"

Janna took a deep breath, and carried on readying her horse. "Your sister may be the most supernaturally powerful human being in the world. Yet somehow, she has the survival skills of a kitten. Her chances are... the sooner I find her, the better."

Olaf seemed as shaken as Anna was. "She didn't _mean_ to leave us, did she?"

Anna hugged him. "I... hope not. I hope not."

She looked up, to see Janna checking her sword and strapping it to her side.

"I should go with you!"

"No!" Janna pointed at the camp. "It isn't a place where you can survive. You need to stay here and take care of the others. My men will follow your orders. Within reason."

"Take them with you, if I can't go!" Janna's eyes hadn't lost their fire since she had seen Elsa leave. Sparks of blue flashed out with every turn of her head. "Are you even thinking straight?"

Janna sprang up onto the horse. "No. Not in days. But I'm going _alone_."

"Manner!" The old ferryman stepped up. Janna leaned over. "They have plenty of supplies, what with all the dead. Lead them up to the old castle- they'll be out of the way there."

She reached down to reassure the old man with a hand on the shoulder. "The castle is empty, Manner. Believe me, what I kill stays dead. I've ordered the magpies there to keep watch for trouble, _and_ not to make any."

She turned back to Anna. "I'll be back with Elsa in a few days. Please, just be patient."

Anna wasn't reassured. "And if she left on purpose? If she doesn't want to come back? This... following her thing, it doesn't always work out so well..."

Janna ran a hand through her tangled hair. "I don't _know_. First I stop her from getting herself killed."

She smiled at Anna. It was probably meant to be cheery, but in combination with blazing black and blue eyes it was more nightmarish than anything.

"Goodbye, Anna. Goodbye, Olaf."

"'Bye, Janna." Olaf held his hands together anxiously. "So, if I said goodbye to _Jani_ , would he be able to hear me?"

Janna blinked, trying to process that question, then rolled her eyes when she understood. "I don't have multiple personalities, Olaf. So, goodbye from both of me, _I guess_..."

Spurring her horse, Janna set off into the south-west, towards the deep, dark forest.

"How will you even find her?" Anna shouted after her.

"I dunno", she shouted back. "Follow the tug on my sodding leash, maybe..."

Anna had no idea what that meant.

Turning back, she looked at the rag-tag collection of middle-aged servants, northern warriors, fishermen and magical snow beings before her. All now looking to her for leadership, apparently.

. .

* * *

. .

The forest was dark.

Elsa made a ball of ice in her palm, and pumped magical potential into it until it glowed like a blue lamp. It made it easier to avoid tripping on tree roots- again- or catching her foot on thorny growth- again- but it also cast a ghostly blue pall on the world around her.

Here she was, alone, in a universe of grey shadows and eerie murmurings. She could feel the tiny hairs on her arms standing on end, as if electrified. Every animal, instinctive part of her was telling her to run screaming.

This was one of the haunted forests Rinne had been talking about, wasn't it? It had all the signs. Except for actual, visible ghosts- but the night was young.

A harsh call ripped through the air above her; she ducked down, fingers brushing the ground. As a few sparks of Elsa's power escaped, icicles rose up to meet her fingertips.

 _Stalagmites, stalactites._

Something within her spasmed with pain at the memory. It was hard to believe how happy she had been, a day or two before, amid life's adventure with that beautiful stranger. Even fighting for her life had not been too fearful. Being marooned far from home had been bearable. What a difference a day makes.

It had been frightening, yes, but... not like this. A hollow, suffocating dread which seemed to snake its way into her lungs with every fevered breath, choking the spirit out of her. A grey darkness filled with muttering, which ate up the light a few feet from the ice in her hand.

 _What has she done to me? Why am I still thinking about him? A confection of method acting and carefully chosen clothes?_

She realised that she no longer had any idea what direction she was walking in. She should really stop. She should stay still and wait until dawn. But with every step she took forward, the voices behind her drew closer. If she stopped, even for a minute, she would be overwhelmed.

So she kept walking

 _Get it under control. Don't feel it_.

Don't feel it...

Don't feel it...

The whispering shadows seemed to spit her thoughts back at her. Mocking, laughing.

Don't let it show...

She wheeled around. Was that Pappa's voice?

She was losing her mind out here.

More laughter. Scorn. Shame. Children's delight turning to screams as a courtyard fills with ripping talons of ice. _Oh God, someone help me..._

 _Croak._

She looked up.

She had fallen to her knees. The light in her hand still shone, and she could see a magpie standing a few feet in front of her. It burbled hoarsely, and took off, landing a few feet away.

"Are you one of Jani's?" _That's Janna, you fool..._

The magpie gave no response. Could Janna listen through them? Could she talk to her? Elsa didn't know the rules.

The bird hopped a few feet further away.

"You want me to follow you?"

The magpie croaked in a tone that was strangely offensive, and hopped away another foot.

"Okay, I get the picture..."

Pulling herself upright, Elsa continued walking, following her strange little guide through an unfamiliar landscape.

. .

* * *

. .

It had only taken another few hours to travel up to the fox castle, as the old ferryman Manner was calling it. The ruin almost overlooked the bay, and would have been visible from the village of Larkspur, but was shielded from sight by the shape of the hills and dense tree growth.

Once they had reached it though, it was memorable. The castle was just a castle, a simple keep, fallen into pieces- she'd seen that before.

But from culverts at the base of the castle flowed twin streams, running and branching through vast flower beds which surrounded the main building on both sides.

And the flowers were all dead. Great pools of grey, brown and black, filling the castle grounds, which must once have been alive with colour.

Anna sat on a low wall, alongside Manner and Gerda- she was pretty sure they were sweet on each other, although it could have been wishful thinking on her part- and decided she had to ask.

"What happened here?"

Manner shrugged. "Janna happened." He swept an arm across the wilted landscape. "'Drum and distaff, we destroy', and all that." He jabbed a thumb back at the ruined keep. "That too. It was a fortress when she arrived. Clever little girl."

"Why do you call it the fox castle?"

Manner looked grim. He fidgeted with his bandana, which he had now taken to wearing around his neck like a kind of deep blue retort to the red scarves of Kaarlo's revolutionaries, letting his greying hair float free on the breeze. "The... woman who lived here kept foxes. As servants."

Anna frowned. "That's so weird! I don't get it. Did she train them?"

Wordlessly, Manner placed something in her palm. Anna peered at it. A tiny dead flower, black and shrivelled, from the garden. As she teased the brittle petals apart, something like a cluster of tiny golden bells fell out, with the faintest rustling sound.

Anna took a deep breath. "Witch blossom."

"Aye. What he kills, stays dead. And the Crow Lord can kill anything."

Anna snorted to hide her discomfort. An eerie statement, which didn't make her feel any less creeped out or overwhelmed by the whole situation. Gerda opted for a change of subject.

"This forest that Elsa flew into... why is Janna so afraid of it?"

Manner sniffed. "The Lady is afraid for _her_ sister's dainty hide. I've seen proof enough that she fears nothing for herself. But those forests..." He stopped speaking for a while. Eventually Anna had to nudge him to get his attention.

"I'm sorry, you just trailed off there, and I really need to know about this very dangerous forest my sister is maybe lost in..."

"Oh, excuse me, it was just... a man has to wonder." Manner chewed thoughtfully at a dried sausage. He offered Gerda some; she shook her head politely, but smiled.

"I remember when I was younger, people would bring tribute to the forest. Reindeer, sheep, rabbits they'd trapped alive. Just leave 'em in the forest, for the spirits. For generations, like. _Blood and bone_ , they'd say. _Take blood and bone to the pines_."

"What changed?"

"The king ordered it stopped. And, you know, you don't argue with the army, so people just... did. They stopped, I mean.

This was, oh, fifteen or twenty years ago. Poor King Rikhard's father. And ever since, I swear to you, the woods have been getting worse. Wilder. Madder."

Anna was trying to process all this while sitting in a witch's smashed up castle holding a dead magic flower. There was far too much surreal in her life at this instant.

"Hungry spirits?"

Manner shook his head. "I don't know. Never actually did it myself. Seems off... Maybe it's more like they're angry we stopped showing respect, or maybe it was a deal we had with them. We don't pay them off anymore, and now they're pissed off and complaining about it."

He took another bite of sausage. "Oh, and there are ghosts and ghoulies and little sprites that try to drown you. And a couple of nameless horrors no one knows how to describe. Pretty much everything wants you dead up there."

Gerda looked like she was choking back tears. Anna buried her face in her hands. _Geez, thanks for the reassurance_...

"Well, we think they're all still in there. Been a year since anyone who went into the forest actually came _out_ again..."

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa wasn't sure how long she had walked after the magpie, as mental fatigue made minutes seem to stretch out endlessly. She no longer held a light- her hands were squeezed tightly together, as she tried to contain her powers. With every ragged, rapid breath, more ice crystals hung in the air, leaving a trail of diamond mist in her wake.

 _Love. It's love. Think of Anna._ She tried to imagine seeing her sister again, saying sorry for yelling like she had. But then she would insist she spoke to Janna, and she would never take no for an answer, and the thought of _her_ made anxiety and confusion blossom through every part of her...

Putting some distance, physically and metaphorically, between herself and Janna and the others changed her perspective somewhat. She had been thinking very hard about the events of the past two days, and was finding it harder and harder to escape the conclusion that she had done a terrible, terrible thing.

She remembered Niska's horrible taunts, the sick gnawing of shame and exposure in the bottom of her stomach. But Janna had been beaten; she had been stripped. They had been about to take her off to the man who had murdered her father and stolen her home away. An old and trusted friend, her only ally from home, had been killed in front of her.

Elsa had been boiling over with fear and rage and hurt; she had wanted to yell _something_ at Janna, to get her to keep away. But why had _that_ come out? Why had she been cruel? Stabbed at her when she was so vulnerable? Replaying those moments in her mind over and over, she saw an Elsa she truly did not want to be. Her words had been hateful, and she didn't hate Janna.

She didn't hate her at all.

She couldn't even really blame her for what had happened. It was rotten luck- fate's bizarre joke at their expense. She had been travelling incognito, in danger from within the party. _Elsa_ had arranged for them to be alone. Elsa had kissed _her_ \- she blushed to admit it. _Although... she had reciprocated. Briefly._ It wasn't her fault Elsa still had these... feelings.

Wasn't it time to admit that they weren't going away? The dreams, the longings, the stupid, impossible crushes? How could she deal with her feelings when she never acknowledged them or thought about them?

 _I can be better than this_. She was decided now. She would try to apologise to Janna, patch things up with Anna, and... things were fine with Olaf, right? She didn't remember upsetting him in any specific way. She would find her dragon again, wherever it was, and maybe, just maybe, they could all be friends again...

And maybe, if she kept promising herself these things, it would relieve this chilling guilt...

She couldn't have been more relieved when, up ahead, she could make out a faint golden light amid the shadows and fog. Stumbling over roots and puddles, she drove herself forward as quickly as she could still manage, eventually coming upon a very strange little house.

The house was plainly magical. For one, it had to be the only building for miles. It was also rooted to the ground. The walls and roof were sculpted wood, sprouting small branches from which hung a variety of random assorted objects. Buttons, a cigarette case... several appeared burnt or melted. A yellow light shone through the translucent window panes- somebody was home.

The magpie perched itself over the door, and croaked... something. Elsa didn't know why Janna thought she would understand anything the bird said.

"I _assume_ I'm supposed to go in."

The bird didn't respond. Elsa went to knock, but her hand started to tremble as she raised her knuckles.

She looked back at her guide. "Is... _she_ in there?"

She wasn't ready for that. Not after all this...

"Hey, you out there!"

That wasn't Janna's voice... A woman's... old, and hard to place in terms of accent.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Are you going to come in or not? Houses don't move easily, and _some_ of us aren't getting any younger."

Elsa looked around at the subtle, consuming darkness of the high forest. Whoever was in that house, it had to be the better option.

She opened the door.


	27. Chapter 27- Blood and Bone

CHAPTER 27- BLOOD AND BONE

* * *

. .

 _Take blood and bone_

 _To Nature's throne_

 _The shadows congregate_

 _Amid the pines_

 _No light now shines_

 _And hungry jaws await_

 _. ._

 _Take blood and bone_

 _Pay and atone_

 _Our troubles will abate_

 _Amid the pines_

 _Where no light shines_

 _And hungry jaws await_

. .

\- A Myrtlean rhyme

. .

* * *

. .

The stag bellowed into the crisp evening air, his thunderous call reverberating in the hollow of its chest until flesh and sinews hummed. The hind did not heed him- _yet_ \- coyly retreating into the trees slowly enough that he should have no trouble following.

He strutted forward, not too quickly, not to seem an anxious yearling, with the confident calm borne of many seasons' ruts. Heavy antlers swung majestically, showing off the strength in his neck and shoulders.

Where there was one hind, he would find others. This would be a good rut.

He roared again, throwing his heavy head back and raising his muzzle to the skies. Cry _life_. Cry _power_. Cry _desire_.

Passing through scattered and broken conifers into the shadier depths of the forest, he followed the spoor of the hind; intoxicating as fallen apples, it drew him forward, promising, inviting, commanding... his loins began to burn in anticipation of the act.

He found his quarry awaiting him in a small clearing. Hungrily, he mounted the female, almost dizzy with excitement, the primal imperatives of the season now driving his every motion. The hind swung her head back, and... bit into the flesh of his neck.

 _Pain_. The hind gripped hard, eyes blazing as green as a leaf, and his limbs would not obey him as he tried to struggle free, confused and desperately afraid. The fire in his blood went out. The strength in his shoulders evaporated. Life. Power. Desire. All gone...

The grey figure of a stag stood alone in a whispering forest. Perhaps it was of stone, perhaps earth, perhaps ash. An antler had crumbled away; there were scuffs and scars on its broad back where birds had tried to find a perch. Come the next rains, it would melt away...

. .

* * *

. .

The high forest shuddered and roared, unnatural winds striking a thousand tuneless notes of branch against branch. In the darkness, Janna careened through the trees like a drunken arrow, trying to spur her little horse to go that few per cent faster without letting him panic or collide with a stump.

He was already tiring, but the thought of dismounting and then later finding Elsa moments too late... so she carried on at full gallop, exerting him to the point of cruelty. She had mentally resolved to start calling him Apples again in the event that they both got out of this in one piece. She still thought Vigilant was a better name for a royal mount, but a faithful horse deserved to be called something it would actually answer to.

She tried to focus on finding her quarry. _Not_ thinking about what she would actually say to her... _Not_ thinking about all that dwelled in these woods which could bring harm to an unsuspecting visitor. Shadows that were not shadows, uncanny beasts. Or, God forbid, one of the lesser Ulda...

Splashing through a dirty pool which lay in their path, Janna was nearly thrown when the palfrey's forelegs became trapped in the sticky mud of the bottom, and they ground to an unceremonious halt. Throwing her sack across to the far bank, she tried to free him, or rather, urge him to free himself, but he was stuck fast, and she was about to jump in and help when the lake bed suddenly began to suck the unfortunate steed downwards. Tumbling into the water from her collapsing mount, Janna tried to stand, but quickly found her own legs being yanked downwards into the depths.

The chilling waters of the pool began to close over her face. The water was filled with invisible, grasping fingers, pulling her under. Struggling desperately, barely able to move her arms from her sides, she knew she would only last as long as the breath in her lungs; so she slipped her knife from her pocket and, gripping it firmly so it could not be snatched away by enchanted currents, pulled it across her side, letting dark blood billow out into the waters of the pool from the shallow slash.

There was a reason the wolf which had bitten her had died. There was a reason she dressed her own wounds.

The restraining forces keeping her under the surface collapsed, and she gasped with relief as her head broke the surface. Pulling her feet free of the clinging mud, she stood up straight in the waist-deep pool. The horse had not surfaced; feeling around in front of her in the murk, she found his head, shoulders and saddle emerging from the lake bed, but no signs of life. Either he had succumbed to their magic, or inhaled some of her blood- regardless, she had no chance of pulling his body free unaided. _Poor little guy. You did your best for me, I know_.

A number of small shapes bobbed to the surface of the poisoned water; she gathered a few up in her arms and waded to shore. Sitting down, she examined one of the little creatures in what broken moonlight still penetrated the pine branches, here on the outskirts of the deep woods. Big-eyed and long-legged, water sprites were rather froglike, if one ignored the pointy hats and breeches. Janna pulled out her knife again. Apricot alighted next to her, hoping for scraps. She hadn't found any sign of Elsa, though. _For God's sake..._

Ten minutes later, having retrieved what she could from Apple's saddle, sent Apricot back out to continue the search, and wasted a minute or two childishly screaming curses at the water, she continued on foot. This had _not_ helped.

Her pack was dry but her clothes and boots were wet; the forest was _cold_ , even in the height of summer. She was resistant to hypothermia, but it might slow her down eventually. She had exceptional stamina, but without a horse, she was barely faster than Elsa. Oh, and there was a hole in her shirt.

As she doggedly trudged on, she took a bite of her supper. The sprite legs didn't taste fantastic, especially raw, but she wanted to save as much normal food as possible for Elsa, _if_ she ever found her...

She sniffed the air. Nothing...

 _Damn it, Elsa, where are you?_

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa sat on a wooden chair, in a wooden house, drinking tea.

She had finally opened the door to the strange pine tree cottage, to be greeted by a little old lady in a woollen shawl, who had suggested- in that tone preferred by queens, empresses and old ladies alike which makes it clear that any argument would be futile- that she might like a cup of something hot.

The cup wasn't wood. It was porcelain, with a crack in it.

Her host sat opposite her now, examining her silently with piercing, dark green eyes. There was no fire in the cottage, and yet it was quite warm. Many small lamps hung from the ceiling, offering adequate light in shades ranging from orange to lime. Their light glinted off the hundred other shiny or memorable objects which the woman had hung up around her home.

The tea was good. _Heaven..._ she had needed this...

How had she boiled the water for the pot? It was clearly more magic, like the house itself. And the woman herself, who was by no means human. Her gnarled skin had the texture of bark, and the springy brush of her hair was very... needle-ish...

She said she was an 'Ulda'. Or she may have said _the_ Ulda. Her name was Mari.

"Does it hurt?"

Elsa looked up, surprised. The creature had not spoken for a good quarter of an hour.

"I'm sorry, does what hurt?"

"The power." The old woman leaned forward, peering into her. "It's so _much_ power for a little one. Like all the Winter is waiting on the other side of a door made out of... _meat_... how do you keep it shut?"

Elsa sighed. "It isn't always easy..." The crone grunted.

She leaned back. "So, tell me, mortal Winter- how is my son?"

"I'm sorry, I'm confused." Elsa frowned. "Do I know your son?"

The old woman laughed. "It is plain you have spent a great deal of time with him. His power clings to yours in traces, like black feathers trapped in a snowy hedge. A mortal who masters the crows?"

Elsa's eyes widened. "Janna?"

"Ha! Is it still that one? They are all my son." The Ulda took a deep breath. "Ooh... your heart just jumped like a frog... "

"Are you... looking inside me?" Elsa suddenly felt extremely exposed.

Her host tutted. "I am Ulda, child. Earth, water and air. Your heart, your blood, your magic- they keep no secrets from me."

Elsa sipped nervously. "What exactly do you mean? About Janna. Her mother is... Irina of Holmgard, I do recall, and I rather doubt that you are her."

The Ulda shook her head, laughing, the green and brown mottled fronds of her hair quivering and bouncing like branches in the wind.

"Your sweetheart _is_ my son, little Winter. Deathless and evergreen. And a brattish ingrate."

" _She_ is not my..." Elsa stopped herself, feeling her cheeks flush. It would not do to let this strange old wood creature bait her. She adopted a neutral, diplomatic tone. "Could you please explain?"

"I hope you aren't in a hurry to leave, then. It's not a short story." Mari smiled, and refilled Elsa's cup from the teapot on the shapeless wooden table. It was just as hot as the first one. Maybe she would be prepared to sell that teapot...

"Well", she began. "I am the eldest of my kin among these mountains, and the most subtle in my workings. For many centuries I lived the typical life of our kind. I sat among the pines, with my house around me, sending forth my magics. The forest saw more traffic in those days, of course. Men would pass near- bandits, vagrants, travellers, and fall under my spell. They would come to my house, and I would feast upon their essence..."

Elsa spat out her tea. "What?!"

The crone chuckled, disconcertingly nonchalant. "A girl has to eat."

"But you ate _people_?"

Mari sniffed, indignant. "Heavens, no. Just their souls. Now stop interrupting. _Some_ I would set free, especially those who would give me a child- when the fancy took me. Those children I birthed into the ground, and they became new spirits of the forest."

The Ulda stopped, and drew her shawl closer around herself.

"Around four hundred years ago, I sent out my power, as I had so many times before, to find some luckless soul sensitive to my call, who would come to my house and nourish my power. I sensed a human life in the near distance, enchanted them, and bid them come. But as they neared my door, my magpies warned me that it was not a man who had heard my call at all, but a woman."

She fixed Elsa with a sharp green eye, the whisper of a knowing sneer on her lip.

"A woman like _you_."

What did she... oh.

Elsa blushed, perceiving her meaning, but did not rise to the bait again. She sensed it would be a waste of time, and who cared what a wooden woman who ate men thought about her?

 _Your heart, your blood..._ Could she see it? Sense it?

Instead, the only words to leave her lips were- "What happened next?"

The creature smiled a not-quite-kindly smile, clearly sensing her discomfort.

"I was surprised, that's 'what'." She spread her arms in an expansive gesture, and Elsa noticed that her left arm, which was withered and shrunken under the shawl, moved stiffly and weakly.

"It had never happened before. Not knowing quite what to do, _and_ a little curious, I removed the enchantment from her and offered her some tea."

The Ulda waggled a rough, knotted hand, and shadows appeared in the air, showing two women seated together. Though largely in silhouette, Elsa could see that one was dressed in torn clothes, bound with a gold belt, and the other, beautiful and poised, was naked, but for the leaves in her hair.

"We sat talking for hours, once past the initial confusion, as you and I are sitting now. It had been decades since I'd had a really decent conversation. That is how I learnt from her that she dearly longed for a child. She had pined for one for many years, even marrying a man in the city, though she obviously found no pleasure in him- but all to no avail.

So in, the end, she had run from her false marriage and her family, and, not knowing where next to go, had wandered straight into my forest.

Ironically, that probably saved her life. She would never have found her own way out of the mountains."

The wooden creature ran a hard, knotty hand through the array of bric-a-brac hanging from the rafters, setting it jangling. "I have mentioned that I am gifted among the Ulda. I made an offer to the human. Satu. Her name was Satu. _Sigh_. It was an experiment, of sorts, requiring considerable skill in several arts as yet unknown to mortals. But, in essence, I would take a seed from my own body and plant it within her. She would stay with me until the child was born, and then we would see what kind of babe it might be- of woman, of the pine, or something else and in between."

"The time came, the night of the next new moon, and she gave birth to a son. Our son. He was human, plainly, yet... in his eyes I could see power burning; mine, yet... altered. Transmuted."

The crone's shoulders sagged a little, as she sighed creakily. The shadows now showed the Ulda and the woman with the belt dandling a small child, whose eyes were flashes of blue.

"I wished to see what he would become, and Satu... did not desire to leave. So for a little time we cared for our son in my little house. I taught my magpies to fetch the things mortals need to live, and the little one grew. Our little Niklas."

The shadows flickered and grew red. Mari gritted her teeth.

"But we did not expect her husband to find us.

I do not know why he pursued her. It must have been a grave matter, to search for years. But come he did, and with many men.

I did battle with them, while Satu fled into the woods with little Niku. I had them hack at their own comrades and stab at their own eyes."

She grunted bitterly. Images of battle swirled around the edges of the room.

"It should have been easy. But amid the slaughter one of their horses panicked and bolted, flinging his dying rider straight into me, and into my house, along with the torch he was carrying.

I burned, and my little house burned around me. By the time I dragged myself from the ashes, I was little more than a splinter, and the merest spark of power."

The shadows on the wall now showed a house in ruins, red with flame. Far off, a woman lay still on the ground, a small child holding her head. Her belt was a ribbon of gold; the arrow flight emerging from her back a fiery flash of crimson.

"A stray shot. After everything that- oh, it seems we were both cursed with terrible luck that day. With my last traces of influence, I reached out to the magic in Niklas' blood, and ignited his authority over the crows, so _they_ might take care of him."

On the wall a boy, a black shadow wreathed in blue light, ran through a phantom forest, amid a cloud of dark wings.

"Then I dug myself into the ground, and, amid the ruins of my home, I slept. For many, long years."

The old woman fell silent again. Elsa tried to make sense of what she had heard. Her host was talking about King Niklas, the ruler who really established Myrtle's reputation as dread pirates back in the olden days. There were all kinds of stories about _him,_ mostly horrible, some fantastical. So, he was _her_ child?

But she was talking about him and Janna as if they were the actual same person, not just heirs to the same magic, which Elsa found hard to believe. Then again, could she expect to understand how Mari, or a troll or sprite, saw the world?

She decided to work with what she had. "The magic- Janna's magic. It comes from you?"

"Hmm..." Mari looked at her hard, until she started to feel... well, even more uncomfortable than she already did, in an alien conversation in an impossible cottage in a cursed forest.

"If something _happened_ to you, out here... how would he react?"

Elsa started- the question didn't seem entirely hypothetical. The magic in her heart pulsed, responding to the rush of fear, and-

Nothing.

Elsa held a palm up, and tried to work some magic. Nothing happened.

"Oh, don't be childish", muttered the Ulda, waggling her fingers sardonically. "The only magic that dominates in this place is mine."

Panicked and powerless, Elsa's eyes darted to the door, but Mari slapped her hand down hard on the table. "Don't get distracted! Answer the simple question. What would happen if you were lost up here? Tell the truth- I'll know."

Tensing to stop herself from trembling visibly, Elsa tried to think.

What _would_ Janna do?

Janna needed Elsa to give her shelter in Arendelle- although Anna would assuredly provide the same if Elsa did not come back. But...

 _She thinks of what has befallen over the past days._

 _Wolves attack- Jani carves a hole in the pack directly in front of her. Monsters risen from the grave are about to devour her- Jani draws their attention. A bandit leader threatens her- Jani drives his cutlass right through the man's head, and his eyes are filled with something more terrifying than mere anger._

 _She is troubled, and Jani distracts her with stories. She is sad, and Jani guides her to fields of flowers..._

 _I will not abandon you._

Elsa took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. It was not a trick.

"If I am lost, Janna will tear this forest apart looking for me. She will never, ever stop. If I should come to harm..." Feeling the need to establish who was the actual _Queen_ in the room, she pointed her sternest and most royal gaze at the old woman, weighting her expression and tone with just the right degree of implied threat. "...then woe betide the person responsible."

She was slightly amazed to realise, as she said the words, that she was telling the absolute, unvarnished truth.

 _She has sworn herself to me._

Her pulse quickened at the thought.

Mari grunted. "Well. I suppose you'd better stay _here_ , then."

. .

* * *

. .

. .

 _Take blood and bone_

 _Don't go alone_

 _And pray do not stay late_

 _Amid the pines_

 _Where no light shines_

 _And hungry lips await..._

 _. ._

. .

* * *

 **NOTES**

Well, I'm still writing. My hours go back down to a sensible level at the start of February, so hopefully there won't be any huge gaps in my output.

* * *

Μήτ᾽ ἔμοι μέλι μήτε μέλισσα.

 _Neither honey nor bee for me..._

-Sappho


	28. Chapter 28- Amid the Pines

CHAPTER 28- AMID THE PINES

* * *

Amid the shadows of a cheerless forest, where it was never quite day, a shadowy figure wandered. As was her habit, she sang to herself, partly as a distraction from her stress, partly to make sense of everything tangled up in her head.

 _"_ _Tuoll' on mun kultani...,_ dum dum dum..."

There was a song she had heard as a child, about a boy gone off to sea, a girl left behind. It spoke to her now, somehow.

She kicked at a fallen branch. She might as well make up her own words- she couldn't remember the proper ones. And it helped keep her head clear.

. .

 _"_ _See now my lover, faring well_

 _Crowning the castle at Arendelle._

 _My golden queen, how long it's been-_

 _Yet you will not come..."_

. .

 _"_ _Perhaps there are some affairs of state_

 _Important business that could not wait_

 _I wait by the ships for her return_

 _The sun goes down_

 _But no..._

 _I do not learn."_

. .

Janna looked about. _Oh, where have you gone, Elsa?_

She had been going directly in the direction the Queen had flown for... a day now? Time was odd in this place... but definitely at least a day- and on horse for much of it. She _had_ to be near.

Apricot flew up to her, alighting on her arm. Once again, she had nothing new to report. Groaning, Janna sent her out again. She wished she didn't have to, as the old bird was weary and she could have used the company, but there was no time to lose. Not out here.

 _. ._

* * *

 _. ._

 _Am I alone?_

Elsa looked around the wooden house in the faint glow of the fairy lamps- she had decided those greenish-yellow luminous bulbs hanging from the ceiling needed a name- and felt her sense of unease steadily building.

The couch on which she was meant to be lying had been pointed out to her by her 'host', in a corner which she could have sworn was empty earlier. She had gone over to investigate, finding a serviceable piece of furniture, seemingly joined to the floorboards, and freshly made. The sheets smelt of wildflowers and pine needles; the memories that had evinced had... _distracted_ her for a moment. Then she had looked back to find her host vanished into thin air, along with the table and chairs, and, most disappointingly, the teapot.

Having a magical being whose abilities she did not fully comprehend disappear on her was disturbing enough. Had the Ulda left by the door, she could perhaps have accepted that she was alone. But as it was, she could not shake the feeling that Mari was still there, in some intangible form. Her influence certainly still lingered- Elsa's powers were still numbed.

It was more unnerving than she might have expected. Two years ago she would probably have kissed the feet of anyone who said they could block her magic, but now she had come, in part, to accept the power as part of her being, felt unnatural, as if her heartbeat was gone.

The house was unsettling enough in itself. No, forget that, the whole _situation_ was unsettling. An inhuman creature had lured her to its cottage in the middle of a haunted forest. It had explained, quite openly, that it was in the habit of luring human beings to its cottage and then feasting on their essence. She was now supposed to _sleep_ in said cottage?

She looked at the bed, which had found use as a chair in between periods of pacing back and forth but was as yet unslept in. It called to her, insidiously, but she did not trust it. If she _did_ fall asleep in this place, would she ever wake up?

It had been... what had it been? Hours? She was never going to get into that bed, and she could stay in here forever. She had to get out of the woods. It should be daylight by now... if she snuck out, she could figure out what way the north-east was, and head there. She would no longer be in here, powerless, defenceless, expected to lie down meekly and close her eyes, here, in the jaws of the beast...

She pulled open the door and staggered out into the gloom. It was... _probably_ brighter than earlier. If nothing else, at least she had been able to rest her feet and enjoy a hot cup in this place, which was an improvement on how she had been when the magpie had found her.

Immediately she felt her powers returning. Reacting to her nervous state, they returned forcefully, straining at their bounds. It was... strange to be comforted by having such destructive power at her fingertips, but after feeling like a rabbit in a snare... On impulse, she waved a hand, and a life-size statue of Olaf riding a horse formed in front of her.

She was powerful. She was as powerful as anything in these forests, and she didn't need to hide.

She told herself this several times, to make herself believe it. It mostly worked.

She looked up at the sky, or tried to. She wasn't sure whether she had overestimated the time she had spent in the hut, or whether there was a lot of dark cloud over the trees, but very little light was making it down to the forest floor, and that of a wan, purplish variety.

 _Oh, what way do I go?_

. .

* * *

. .

The fourth time Apricot came back with no news, Janna almost screamed. There was no time. No time...

She had expected to be able to consult the local bird life to aid in her search. But the energies of the forest were in such turmoil, of a type she could not fully comprehend or explain, that it was all she could do to maintain her connection to Apricot. As she came upon other crows, she questioned them, without much luck, but she could not work on any real scale.

She had been wandering around these blasted forests for hours at the least, fearful for the woman she sought, and frustrated to the point of tears at how impotent her search was proving, in the face of the disruption of her abilities. It wasn't that she was weakened, exactly- the poison in her blood seemed to thrive on the darkness of this place, and her muscles practically sizzled with energy- but without the capacity to focus her magic and see through crows' eyes, she was a blind hunter, pawing her way through the gloom.

Meanwhile, the same malign energy took its toll on her already poor mood. She was always a _little_ angry. She just was. Ever since she had come into her power, the fire had been there, in the pit of her stomach, simmering like a pot, ready whenever she needed it. But amid the pines, it bubbled and leaked out and made everything so much worse and she could barely... barely...

 _It's happening again..._

Janna balled her fists and howled, dropping to her knees in the dirt. The rage boiled in her limbs, paralysing, shuddering rage, taking over every muscle and sinew until she could do nothing but rock back and forth, gasping for breath. She no longer registered sight, or sound, or scent. There was only an ocean of fury. At Elsa. At herself. At Kaarlo, whose filthy ambition had snatched away her father and her home and separated her from almost everyone and everything which mattered to her. At Rinne and Mouse Eye for getting themselves killed for her sake. At Niska for killing them, even though he had already paid with his flesh and his soul- but he would _never_ have paid enough, even if she had dragged his end out over _days_. At the _world_ and all its insanity. At Mother and Father, as always. At her own damp boots and aching feet. At this sodding _broken_ forest, which wouldn't keep its tendrils out of her head...

Eventually the attack abated somewhat, and her vision cleared. She stood back up, and looked around, a little dazed. Pulling a rag from her pocket, she dabbed the sheen of grubby sweat from her forehead and neck, and considered her situation.

This was _not_ working. She closed her eyes, slowed her breathing down, and applied all her will to forcing herself to focus. There were lifetimes in her blood. Kings, warriors, monsters... there _had_ to be a better way than wandering blind.

Depressingly, all her knowledge pointed her to a single alternative course of action, one she had been hoping to avoid. But... perhaps she was being negative. Her patron wasn't _always_ unhelpful. Besides, who else would know these forests better? And would she not have perceived the coming of a great power into her territory, when Elsa's magic shone like a beacon even to Janna's meagre senses?

With the tip of her knife, Snake disliking such unwarlike duties, she carved a rough oval into the bark of the nearest pine tree. Then she added a line for a mouth, two hollow eyes, and all the other features of a crude, but recognisable face.

Satisfied that her clumsy attempt at sculpture would suffice, she nicked the blade down her wrist sharply, letting just a little more of her blood well out. There had been _way_ too much bleeding in her life since leaving the rest of the party... catching the dark dribble on her thumb, she dabbed it on the eyes and mouth of the face she had made.

The blood soaked away into the tree immediately. The face developed a... potential which Janna could sense- a bridge between the black-and-blue and the local magics.

She hated asking for favours.

Bowing her head, she called out mentally and verbally to her patron.

" _Hyvää päivää,_ _Mummi Mari_. I am come amid the pines, once more. Will you answer me?"

The face tutted.

"Well, took you long enough."

Janna frowned. "Honoured grandmother, I seek a woman, lost in these woods, but my search is-"

"I know, child. I brought her to my house as soon as I was able."

"You found her?" asked Janna, not yet quite daring to let herself feel relieved, until she knew the old monster's angle. "How is she?"

The face narrowed its eyes. "How is she? Suspicious of all things, jumpy as a mouse, confused on almost every level. She radiated so much mingled shame, longing and guilt I could barely think straight."

"That... does _sound_ like the one I'm after. Where is the house right now?"

The face paused. "That's... academic at this stage, my son. She has left. Hmm. Well, that _does_ complicate things."

Janna put a hand to her face. Feelings of relief would, indeed, have been premature. "Oh _shit_... Why did you let her leave?"

"Should I have kept her prisoner for you? I offered my hospitality to your associate, but she left. I _tried_ to warn her, you know..."

Grinding her teeth together, Janna tried to keep her emotions from bubbling back up. For Elsa to be lost again, after she had so nearly found her... "Please, Mari... can you tell where she is? I'm blind here."

The face considered. A fleck of sawdust fell from its nose.

"She is... well, she is wandering in circles... Head directly east of where you are, and you _might_ run across her."

"Thank you, thank you..." Janna backed away from the tree.

"Wait!" cried Mari.

Janna stopped. "Yes?"

"You should be cautious. She is already _hunted_."

Janna felt suddenly sick. That was about the worst news Mari could have given her.

"Why are you allowing this?" she gasped.

"I have to", Mari stated simply. "Having released her, she was fair game for any of the others."

Stupid magic rules- no point trying to argue. Janna stumbled away again, weakly. East, then. Walk steady, test the air, keep Apricot looking, and _pray_ she was the first to find her...

Amid the shadows of a cheerless forest, where it was never _quite_ day, a shadowy figure walked purposefully, with a long, smooth stride, like a cat on the prowl. As she padded through the dimness of the woods, she continued to mumble a song to herself.

. .

 _"_ _There are maids there whose looks entrance_

 _But she'd never spare them a glance._

 _Ah my love, my golden one-_

 _Still you will not come..._

 _. ._

 _She'd never change, nor be untrue,_

 _Abandon me for someone new._

 _I wait at the shore for her return_

 _My eyes grow dim_

 _But no..._

 _I do not learn..."_

. .

Her fingers tensed into claws. _I swear by Almighty God, and all his saints and all his angels, and every petty deity, spirit or dread shade out there- if any of those bastards so much as touch Elsa_...

. .

* * *

. .

In a deep dark corner of the forest which birthed her, the hind sniffs at the air, an ear flapping in the thrill of anticipation. Power lingers in the air, promises of a feast like no other drifting on the cold breezes.

Abandoning her habitual shape, she feels her flesh harden and stiffen, knotting and remoulding itself. Wooden antlers sprout shoots which flower, fruit, and fall withered to the ground as her body twists and straightens, the fine grain of her new skin pulsing with streaks of viridian luminescence. Hooves become hands, and hair like a wave of soft needles sweeps down over slender shoulders.

The hind woman inspects herself carefully. It is good. It will suffice as a lure.

Now, to the hunt.

. .

* * *

. .

 **NOTES**

 _Tuoll' on mun kultani_ is an actual Finnish folk song. _I Do Not Learn_ is based on that, and to a lesser extent one or two similar songs. I started modifying an English version from Keith Bosley's translation of the Kanteletar, and it basically snowballed.

Here is the Bosley version, so you can see what I used and didn't use:

. .

 _There is my lover, lingering_

 _Long at the court of the golden king._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _There are girls there whose looks entrance_

 _But my love's eyes don't spare them a glance._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _Fair flowers, the summer morning is fair_

 _But fairer my love's eyes, his air._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _The birds they sing from a lovely throat_

 _But lovelier is my darling's note._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _Honey and cake are sweet on the platter_

 _By my love's lips are another matter._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _When shall I see that day of joy-_

 _Walking and talking beside my boy!_

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _Autumn is fast on the heels of summer_

 _And yet my darling is a slow comer._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

 _. ._

 _Come, come, my darling, homeward, and hurry_

 _Or I shall die of longing and worry._

 _Ah my lovebird, ah my darling:_

 _Now you do not come!_

. .

I like to have fun. _Blood and Bone_ , of course, took inspiration from _Where did you sleep last night_ , rather more loosely.


	29. Chapter 29- And Hungry Lips Await

CHAPTER 29- AND HUNGRY LIPS AWAIT

* * *

. .

ὦ παῖ παρθένιον βλέπων  
δίζημαί σε, σὺ δ' οὐ κλύεις,  
οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅτι τῆς ἐμῆς  
ψυχῆς ἡνιοχεύεις.

 _O boy of girlish looks, I call to you, but you heed not-_

 _Not knowing you hold the reins to my soul_.

-Anacreon

. .

* * *

 _. ._

 _Trembling, I turn at last. It hurts so much to look at her. Everything is fear and scorn. Eyes like the sky after dusk fill with pleading. My heart seethes, and my hands are about to explode- I have to get away. They're all watching me. Why can no one see?_

 _"Leave", I hear myself hiss, through gritted teeth..._

Elsa stumbled through the woods. The whispering dark drew close, now. She could not keep the memories out of her mind, however she tried; time and time again her concentration would slip, and she would find herself reliving those awful moments.

" _Get away from me, you_ _freak!_ "

 _She goes grey and silent. Pleading eyes cease to plead, lower in defeat, broken and overflowing with hurt. But this time, her pain is mine, and guilt spreads through me like cold water_...

Elsa gasped, clutching at herself.

 _What have I done?_

The shadows answered only with joyless laughter, reflecting her damning regret back upon her. On weary feet she tripped and stumbled and scurried her way through the heckling gloom, praying over and over for some solitary scrap of light, some sign that she was reaching the edge. This forest wasn't really so large, was it?

That part of her mind which still held on to reason considered that, based on what she had seen, the distance the dragon could cover in a mere hour would probably take her a week to walk on foot over rocky and mountainous ground, factoring in sleep and rest. While she didn't think she had held on to its back for _that_ long, she had probably ended up a very long way from the others. It was not a cheering thought.

 _Freak..._

 _Jeez, Elsa, stamp a little harder, why didn't you? I'm not sure her heart was quite flat yet..._

Something she had heard Anna muttering at one point. She hoped she was okay. They hadn't parted on the best of terms either. What was she going to say to either of them? To anyone?

What about when they got back to Arendelle?

What might the people think?

Or the burghers?

Or her allies? Enough nations already hesitated to conduct business with a 'witch'. Being a... being _as she was_ , as well, would not make her, or Arendelle, many new friends.

What should she do? What should she say? Could she keep it all a secret? Should she?

She tried to think of the right thing to do, but she could not decide. She tried to think of the smart, or at least the safe thing to do, and she wasn't sure about that, either. However much she agonised over the situation- and she was a world-class expert on overthinking, as Anna always said- her confusion did not abate.

So preoccupied was she with her internal turmoil that it took her a moment to register that something was suddenly different about her surroundings.

Jani, or Janna, had berated her more than once about keeping her eyes open. She stopped and looked around, trying to pin down what had changed. She had stepped into a small clearing created by a couple of fallen pines, but not yet colonised by the smaller spruces and broadleaf shrubs which competed in the shade of their greater cousins.

No actual sunshine reached her from the sky above, but the clearing was... brighter. After wading through shadows which seemed to claw at her like briars, it appeared as verdant and refreshing to her as a palace garden in spring.

Stopping to rest her feet, she jumped to see a bird staring at her from its perch on one of the fallen trees. When the bird did not budge an inch for several seconds, she stepped up and examined it closely. It looked like a woodcock, but was actually some kind of very intricate sculpture. As she brushed her hand against it, the surface crumbled away into a kind of fine, grey powder, like ash. What was it made of? Why had it been left here, where it was clearly deteriorating, and by whom? Curiouser and curiouser.

Feeling strangely more at ease than she had in hours, or perhaps days, she sat down on the mossy trunk next to the odd little ashen bird. Rolling her stiff shoulders back and forth, she took a deep sniff of the cool, cool forest air. She smelt pine needles, leaf mould, the woody dampness of the dead tree. And something else, something delicate and floral, like spring blossoms...

Finding herself no longer the least bit tired, she arose, on an impulse she could not identify, and started to walk again, toward the far corner of that fair clearing. She was... heading to something. Something she had noticed, or remembered.

Then she saw a woman there, waiting for her against the trunk of a tree. Elsa recognised her, although, had anyone asked, she would have to have admitted that she had never seen her before. Her friend smiled, and waved a delicate hand.

Elsa stumbled forward, as if in a dream. She felt no fatigue, but her feet disagreed, and her ankles kept wobbling.

Her beautiful friend stretched, languidly, perfect lips parting as if in a sigh... Now Elsa's heart began to race. Something niggled at the back of her mind, some detail... something forgotten. She ignored it, and kept walking.

Pale antlers gleamed silver, springing from greenish black hair like sweeping branches. Green eyes sparkled and winked, teasingly. Soft, silken flesh rose and sank with each slow, tender breath. Now they would be together, and all would be beautiful and nothing _hurt_ anymore...

. .

Elsa padded towards the hind woman. Her captor shook her head in disbelief at the pliability of mortals.

Then her ears pricked at an unfamiliar sound. Her quarry stopped still in her distraction.

Was that _music_?

It grew louder. Someone was approaching.

The hind narrowed her eyes. There it was... some ballad, sung slow.

. .

 _Perhaps some tempest stirs the seas_

 _And so she waits for a fairer breeze_

 _I wait in the dark_ _for your return_

 _The days grow short_

 _But no..._

 _When will I learn?_

 _. ._

A third figure stalked into the clearing, singing an old song. She came up to the two and stopped, scratching at her cheek.

. .

* * *

. .

Janna looked the hind woman up and down. "Nice glamour. Does your mother let you whore around in that fetch?"

The Ulda smiled. Her teeth glittered. "Another girl. Well, well. You'll do for dessert."

She made a beckoning motion towards the newcomer, and seemed surprised when Janna merely rolled her eyes and spat.

"When Mari told me the rest of her kind were idiots, I only half believed her, but Christ Almighty..." She tapped her temple with a finger, and her eyes flashed blue. "Give up and run. The only magic that dominates in here is mine."

The hind woman snarled, energy rippling green under her skin. "The changeling." She stretched her hand out again, and an icy hand seemed to clamp itself around Janna's heart and simultaneously every nerve in her body. Janna fell to her knees, muscles locked and in spasm.

She couldn't feel the crows. She couldn't connect to them- even Apricot. _Well, this just got a whole lot harder_.

"Such overconfidence from one so severely limited. Do not interrupt my meal. I doubt many would mourn your _permanent_ destruction."

Janna could see Elsa out of the corner of her eye. She was out of it, still- the hind was still too strong. She watched helplessly as their foe sauntered up and sniffed the Queen's face, curiously.

"I've had humans aplenty, but _never_ a female. And, oh, the _power_ in this one..."

"It'll kill you, you mad, stupid bastard!" Janna hissed.

"Oh, really?" sneered the Ulda. "And you're not just saying that to save one you care so _much_ for?" She placed a hand over Janna's heart. "No secrets, little freak." For a moment, Janna thought she saw Elsa's eye twitch, but it vanished. The spell was holding.

The hind whispered in Janna's ear. "How about another song? And maybe I'll do her quickly?"

Janna seethed. She could no longer keep the magic out of her eyes, and they crackled with rage.

"Well?"

. .

" _One dark and blasted morn a harlot met me by the docks._

 _A swinging hip, a knowing lip, a mane of auburn locks..._ "

. .

 _The Harlot and the Ring_ was a popular tavern song back home. She glowered at the creature. "Know this, you sunken, artless predator. I'm giving you one last chance to get out with your skin, but after that, the ship has sailed. She. Is. _Mine_."

The Ulda slapped her hard across the face, her eyes aglow. "Arrogant... _You'd_ threaten _me_? An experiment gone wrong? You're not even supposed to exist!"

Janna growled softly, smiling in such away that most of her teeth showed. "Go screw another deer, you shite-eyed backwoods vulture. And put some sodding knickers on. _I'm_ better than _you_. Know why?"

The hind woman hissed. "You're _nothing_! You don't belong in nature!" She looked over at Elsa. "I'm not quite sure what one even does with a female. But I'm sure I'll find some way to prolong her end. Painfully. Just for you."

Janna started to laugh, a faintly maniacal titter that built into a fit.

"Stop that!" shouted the hind, shaking her by the shoulders. "Don't laugh at me! I've won the hunt, you _mistake_! What's wrong with you?"

Janna's wracking laughter died down, and she was able to speak. "Just... pissing you off. Earth, water, air, you dumbarse... ugh... you're just shaking with rage, aren't you?"

The Ulda paused, uncomprehending.

The Lady of Crows nodded. "So am I. The sentence is death."

There was a hollow, wet sound as steel severed wooden flesh, and the hind woman screamed. Janna pulled herself up, Snake glistening with pale ichor in her right hand, as the creature's own arm shuddered and twitched at her feet. _The fire, the rage- interferes with you, doesn't it? Makes you weak and unfocused_.

 _Makes me stronger._

Green dribbling from the raw wound, the enraged wood spirit swiped the cutlass from Janna's grasp, using her remaining hand with inhuman speed and causing the young Crow Lord to scream as wooden talons tore her fingers. Then the claw was up and around her throat, squeezing tightly.

"Can't eat _me_..." Janna gasped.

The hind woman snarled in disgust. "I wouldn't pollute mys-"

She was interrupted as she was suddenly catapulted backwards a few feet, nearly snapping Janna's neck as she was dragged back with her. As the creature's grip loosened, Janna stepped back, rubbing the bruised flesh of her throat, and saw what had happened. A number of large icy spikes impaled the wooden body of the Ulda, pinning her to the trunk of the old pine behind her.

Once established, an Ulda's glamours were all but invincible. Distracted as the monster was, Janna could help but be impressed at how quickly the Queen had regained her will. Behind her, Elsa collapsed to the ground; it was... alarming, but she could not allow herself to lose focus- not until the kill was made certain. Planting a boot against her struggling, squealing opponent, she grasped the spike emerging from its chest and twisted, hard. Then she leaned back on it with all her strength, prising open the dripping, woody thorax and dragging loose something dark, knotty, and pulsing.

Picking Snake up from the ground, she tugged out the heart, severed its strings, and tossed it into the trees.

Leaning in close to the trembling wooden face, she watched the emerald light fade from its eyes. "I warned you, Pinocchio", she whispered. " _Mine_."

Her fingers started to burn, as the dying woman's blood worked into her scratches. An impulse seized her, originating from some deep and ancient corner of her being, and she thrust her hand into the hollow of the Ulda's excavated body, drenching her hand in her life's blood.

It felt like lightning coursing through her arm, as the remnant's of her foe's power was drawn into her blood- painful, overwhelming, _exhilarating_. Her veins burned until it felt as if her flesh would start to steam. Her sense of the crows in the wood returned, bright and clear, cutting through the fog of unfocused dark energies. She could hear Apricot, and a hundred others- no, a _thousand_. A mile away. Ten miles. Fifty.

. .

* * *

. .

 _The rookeries of Myrtle's palace were never silent. A towering castle build to serve the ego of a long-toppled tyrant, it was, unlike the royal residence of its southern neighbour, a truly imposing fortress, rising high above the rest of the city, as pale as a tombstone. In its upper stories, countless lofts housed far more crows than any one kingdom could possibly need. Working crows such as messengers and mousers were kept there, but countless others nested there wild, available for taming and training. It was a crow town, in a way._

 _The work of the feeders, trainers and messenger clerks continued as it ever had that day, a continual stream of reports received, orders issued, directing the machinery of war as well as day-to-day state business. At least it did, until the crows stopped._

 _An aged mail officer was inspecting the message he was about to attach to a young raven's leg, when the bird in question started hopping up and down excitedly on the table, her dark feathers ruffled and disordered._

 _Peering over his spectacles at the odd sight, the unassuming little man almost had a heart attack when the crow looked at him and croaked something very distinct._

 _"Janna."_

 _She hopped around some more. "Janna. Lady Janna." Then other crows started speaking as well, from every nook and corner of the rookeries, as they took flight and began to soar out of the windows._

 _"Janna! Lady Janna!" they cried. There were hundreds speaking, now, flying out of the castle in great flocks, joining those down in the streets below, who all cried the same thing- "Janna!"_

 _The crows winging through the park where children played. Those scavenging at the market, weaving between startled vendors and shoppers. The pet on the minstrel's shoulder, and the mocking chorus perched on the Lord Protector's balcony, startling him amid his afternoon exercises. All repeated the same declaration, and the people of the city heard, and many understood- whether with confusion, with terror, or with joy._

 _"Janna! Lady Janna!"_

 _There was a Crow Lord once more._

. .

* * *

. .

Ripping her hand free of the hind woman's body, Janna rushed to the nearest water- a little muddy pond, practically a puddle. _First the blood. Then Elsa._ She washed her hands. Then she inspected them carefully. Then she washed them again, to be sure the death had been rinsed away. Clutching at her hammering chest, she staggered back to where Elsa lay on the earth. What foolish thought had driven her to do that? Any longer and her heart would have exploded...

Breathing hard, and almost too giddy to see straight, she did her best to examine the other young woman. As she had expected, the Snow Queen was essentially okay, but out cold. While she had somehow freed herself from it, luckily for them both, the artless, brute force magic of that petty woodland hag would have taken its toll, especially given that the enchantment collapsed rather than being lifted properly. Elsa would probably feel the effects for a day or to.

Her relief was tinged with sadness, and a strange kind of fear. Given all that had passed before, Elsa might be difficult when she woke up. She had not spoken a full sentence to Janna since... everything, and so she faced being stuck in the woods with someone determined to hurt her and at the same time capable of doing so so _effortlessly_. Even though they hardly knew each other, somehow the Queen's words and actions bypassed Janna's emotional armour entirely. But at the same time, she could not be left alone like this. She needed Janna, whether she liked it or not.

And whether Janna liked it or not, she did not have it in her to abandon this strange, confused, imperfect yet incomparable woman. _Still the dog, I guess. Damn it..._

In the end, she lay Elsa gently on her side and moved a few feet away, just to put some respectful distance between them. Then she closed her eyes and reached out to the crows. Her senses were still much clearer than before, and it would be good to get some local intelligence...

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa blinked in the dim light of the clearing. As her senses returned, she tried to make sense of what had happened. She had really been here, in these woods. And was still here. And that woman... she jumped at the sight of her corpse, which had slid down the trunk of the tree as the ice had melted. Her torso was ripped apart, and her arm was severed. That perfect, soft skin had evaporated, an empty illusion. Her dry, dead, crumbling face was of wood, just like Mari's.

Then she looked beside her, and her heart nearly burst out of her chest.

She had been unprepared for the impact of seeing Janna again. She reclined against the roots of a great tree, eyes closed, and was no illusion. Dark hair ruffled in the chill breeze. She looked scruffy and muddy and battered and _wonderful_. She had come. She had come into the deepest, darkest part of the world, and she had saved her yet again. Like a hero from a story. Like a dashing knight from a girl's pubescent dream, except, well, _curvier,_ in certain respects which, as it transpired, affected her.

What had happened in the fight? Elsa could make no sense of her fractured memories. Was Janna hurt by that... predator? What had it cost her to even reach her here, in this nightmarish place? She wanted to ask her, to be reassured... but she did not feel right waking her. Nor did she quite yet dare to speak to the woman who was able to throw her emotions into such a disorder, when she feared so much that the moment she opened her mouth, something would go terribly wrong again.

The dead eyes of the wooden woman seemed to stare at her, hollow and cold. The shadows were starting to whisper again. Crawling in closer and closer. It was not safe to sleep alone.

Janna lay there, maybe six feet from her. Her skin seemed faintly aglow in the perpetual twilight of the forest. Was it night or day? Elsa watched her tattoo slowly rise and fall. A curious thing to see on a girl, especially a princess. She had not asked about it, and neither had anyone else where she was in a position to eavesdrop. Perhaps she should. Ask, that is, not eavesdrop. It befitted the Queen of Arendelle to be able to talk with a fellow noblewoman like an adult. When she had rested, and could think straight. Her head still swam...

She must be very cold. Elsa felt the chill herself, although it caused her no discomfort as such. Janna might be exhausted, or injured. She hadn't even done up her coat. She shouldn't sleep alone, out here, at this altitude.

The murmuring of the shadows grew stronger. Slowly, silently, Elsa crept over to where Janna lay, and nestled herself against her. Resting her head against the softness of Janna's chest, she could hear, or perhaps feel, the fierce rhythm of her heartbeat. The strange princess' heat permeated her, filling her body with rich warmth. She hoped she had the same effect. It was very bad for most people to sleep in the cold- she had read it somewhere.

As she drifted into exhausted, yet strangely blissful sleep, amid the scent of flowers and smoke, she realised that she no longer heard the shadows.

. .

* * *

. .

Janna opened her eyes, and craned her neck forward to survey the situation without moving her body and so disturbing the warm weight now resting on her. She took it all in. No, it was not a dream. Not some lingering hallucinogenic effect of the hind woman's blood. She was sleeping with Queen Elsa.

In the literal sense, of course- the Queen was a noble lady, not a tavern girl. Elsa was even snoring, softly- a faint little wheeze, almost like a rabbit might make, which Janna found oddly adorable. The dim light from above gleamed across the gentle curve of a royal hip, enrobed in a glittering crystalline fabric of woven ice, one of the miracles this woman semed to create without even really thinking. Janna tried to ignore where the other hip was pressing against her, not painfully, but noticeably. Elsa shifted her head slightly in her sleep, nuzzling gently. _Oh God, give me strength..._

Carefully freeing an arm, Janna delicately stroked Elsa's scalp. She had never known hair like hers, softer and smoother than satin; the air was filled with the sweet amber scent of it, mingled with what remained of her perfume... _Well, this is a change_. What did it mean?

It probably meant Elsa didn't hate her anymore, she could rest relatively assured of that. As for anything else... Elsa was confused, and scared. She got that- who else could understand Elsa's perplexity better? And she knew that there was no telling what would happen in the morning...

Janna sighed.

Gently running her fingers through Elsa's locks, she began to sing again, soft and low, just above a whisper, like a lullaby.

. .

 _Summer is ending, the autumn is near_

 _I wait for my lover, she still isn't here._

 _Ah my love, my golden one-_

 _Still you will not come..._

. .

 _Come back my darling, come home today_

 _The crows take whoever would keep you away._

 _I watch as the flames of sunset burn_

 _Their fire fades_

 _But no..._

 _I cannot learn...  
_

. .

Janna smiled, watching the small movements of Elsa's breathing, the subtle flickering behind her long lashes as she slept, sensing the pulse of the Queen's heartbeat through the warm pressure on her skin. _Hey there, little light. I see you, hiding behind the shutters. Afraid someone will blow you out. Never fear- I will watch over you_...

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Well, now to write some very careful morning-after conversation.

. .

 _ **Mixed message** (noun):_ a statement which is at odds with what is suggested by some or all of one's actions. See also **_Elsa, Queen_**.

. .


	30. Chapter 30- The Fear of Bears

CHAPTER 30- THE FEAR OF BEARS

* * *

 _Just a little mini chapter. I'm still working on the next part but this didn't really fit in anywhere, so I decided to post it on its own. Ch. 31 will be along soon._

* * *

He drifted through the dark forest like a chilling breeze. Fur darker than a pit rippled across the breadth of his shoulders, flickering like the shadow of a flame. Lesser whispers and terrors parted before the great bear, as he padded softly, without sound or footprint, to what shone in the forest depths.

He neared it now- whatever fairy quarry had flown into the spider's web, glimmering in the spirit light like a sapphire, visible as the moon to a ghost, or a nightmare.

Ready to make the kill, he drew more of the forest's hungry darkness within himself, growing vast as a hill, translucent as shadows in water. His jaws were a cavern ringed with dripping teeth, large enough to devour armies, for he was, in truth, all bears, and the fear of bears. He was the paralysing chill in the flesh of every trapper, every woodsman.

He drew his bulk into a clearing, which he filled like a black fog; there it was. _She_ was. A small figure, sleeping like a child, shimmering blue as day amid the gloom. A rich and enviable prize, saturated with power.

But... she was not alone. Amid the thickening twilight of the pines he had not sensed a kindred spirit. In the ghost light he beheld a flame of black and blue, wreathed in the shadows as he was, like a whirlpool into which all the darkness was drawn in long, rippling threads. She pulled the sleeping figure close against herself, and fixed him with baleful eyes, twin lanterns of tanzanite fire.

She hissed. Cautious, the great bear stepped closer, uncertain of his opponent's strength. The hiss intensified into a low snarl. The bear perceived the remains of a greater power close by. There, across the clearing, were the cooling embers of what had once burned with viridian light, its essence shredded like a carcass. Gleaming ribbons of that fallen one's energies still clung to the sleeping figure's guardian, mingling with the black-and-blue. He was not her first challenger...

He tried to bellow a challenge, but she covered her charge's ears and roared back, a voice dripping with raw fury and... strangely ancient in its promise. It stretched out slender fingers, crackling with power, and he felt himself... what was this?

He... it was a kind of madness, whatever the clouding influence of this monster was inflicting upon him. He began to lose all sense of purpose and reason, all sense of... the other shadows began to escape as he lost control, slipping from him like black blood, and he shrank.

He knew fear. He who _was_ fear.

The great bear turned and ran back into the trees, growing smaller and smaller, haemorrhaging power with every step, fleeing a touch which broke all bonds and all control.

The monster smiled softly, watching the fear of bears in flight, and lay back against roots of the tree. Such spectres were easy to disrupt- they were a paradox, form and consistency given to what was by nature formless and wild. It was as well that had worked the first time, though; she hadn't enough of the hind's power to try it again. _God, Elsa is one hell of a heavy sleeper..._


	31. Chapter 31- The Morning After

CHAPTER 31- THE MORNING AFTER

. .

* * *

. .

"What troubles you, child?"

Bishop Halsing sat down beside Elsa on the pew, gentle concern in his voice. She sighed, eyes fixed on the altar before which they had both stood last summer, for her coronation. It was too much of a cliché to say it felt like a lifetime ago, but a _lot_ of things had changed for her, so far beyond what she had been expecting.

"Is it that obvious?"

The bishop chortled affably. "It is a Tuesday afternoon, your Majesty. One can normally set a clock by your visits."

"I needed..." Elsa rubbed her forehead, trying to work out the end of that sentence. _Needed advice? No, nothing so specific..._

"Is it the wedding?"

She frowned. "Tangentially. It creates complications."

"I don't think you've ever touched on how you really feel about the match. I hate to ask..."

"No, no, it's not like _that_." Elsa shook her head, plait bouncing on her shoulder. " _I'm_ happy for Anna. Kristoff makes her happy, and I think he's good for her, in a funny sort of way. When I see them together, there's something... something I envy a little, I guess." She lowered her eyes. "I just wish it were a little less controversial."

Bishop Halsing raised a curious eyebrow. "With whom?"

Elsa grimaced. "The major houses. The common folk _love_ it- it's a romantic fairy tale come true. But the burghers..."

"Because she isn't marrying one of them?"

"Ugh. Because Kristoff is, or at least was, poor and uncultured." Elsa rolled her eyes. "And Sami, to boot, not that they said it outright. It was just _there_ , tinging the edge of every sentence."

She looked at her hands, which had formed into fists. " _Hours_ of complaints and protests. I don't know how long it will take to calm them all down enough so we can get some actual business done. There are so many deals and construction projects and reforms still to secure before summer's end, and I need _everyone's_ cooperation."

The bishop smiled warmly. "Ah. So, the Arendelle economic miracle continues apace. One would think they would put their prejudices aside in the name of greater prosperity."

Elsa looked at him wearily, sad blue eyes seeming, for a moment, to belong to a much older person. "Long-term advantage will not always convince a querulous merchant prince to improve his worker's living conditions out of his own pocket. Even if you can convince him that advantage exists. And even in straight-forward investments, there's so much _quibbling_. A disgruntled burgher can tie things up for months, if his ego is wounded enough."

The bishop nodded. Greed and pride; how much harm had they done, over the years, to the efforts of those like Queen Elsa- people who just wanted to make a better world for everyone?

"Do you think they will be any more trouble?" he asked. "You have my support, you know. Always."

Elsa mustered an unconvincing smile. "Thanks... No, I think they're pacified for now. Although it does add to the expectation that _I_ will secure a more... conventional match in the near future."

The Queen seemed to slump slightly. Halsing worried about her. She weighed herself down with so much expectation and obligation. It made her a marvellous ruler, in her way- Arendelle's prosperity had ballooned since she had begun to take over, under the care of her advisors, following good king Agnarr's passing. A river to her people, and so on. But he knew that she barely slept. Her subjects were better paid and so better fed, better rested and somehow, at the same time, vastly more productive, while she alone seemed to be toiling herself into an early grave.

This... match business seemed to be yet another source of stress. Princess Anna had confided that her sister seemed very strained, prickly where the subject of marriage was concerned- sometimes crying at unexpected things, she who was normally so composed.

He put a hand on hers, mindful that it was a breach of protocol. Her fingers were icy cold. "Child, there must be _hundreds_ of princes and lords out there."

Elsa looked down. "Yes. And half of them are married, or old, or still children. Half of the remainder are too far away. Of those left over, how many will answer a _witch's_ letters?" She almost spat the word.

He tried to reassure her, but she waved a hand at him. "I know, I know. But what do I tell them? I don't know where this-" she formed a snowflake on her palm- " _comes from_. If they say it is from Hell, how can I refute them?"

This issue still. Poor child- the questions she sometimes asked broke his heart.

The bishop reached for a Bible and turned towards the Epistle of St. James. Finding the passage he wanted, he read aloud.

" _Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows..._ "

He sighed. "Whatever the direct origin of your miraculous abilities, your Majesty, remember that God alone rules our fate, and only He could have willed that they came to one so selfless and wise as you have proven to be. Such power would corrupt all but the most worthy- but you have never wilfully misused it, nor could I imagine you ever doing so.

Dear child, you are the best of us. Whomever you finally wed, ensure that it is someone who appreciates how exceptional you are. Not on account of your magic, but rather your character.

There are young men aplenty in this city, I well know, who worship the very ground you walk upon. Not _literally_ , I would hope... But surely, somewhere out there, there is a prince waiting who will see you that same way."

He patted her hand. "So don't rush. And promise me you _will_ try to worry less?"

Elsa smiled, genuinely this time. "Thank you, your Grace."

He tutted. "Say nothing of it. We diagonal pieces must stick together. At least you have the visit to Myrtle to take your mind off matches and mining contracts."

Elsa looked dubious. The bishop looked at her quizzically.

"Actually", she confessed, "King Rikhard and I _were_ going to discuss one or two reforms he was planning for his own kingdom. There's really no reason Myrtle can't be legitimately wealthy- they're great shipbuilders and smiths, they have fur and amber-" The bishop coughed disapprovingly, and she stopped herself. " _But,_ I will mostly be resting."

"That's better." Halsing held up a blue-black rose, with a single thorn on its stem. "Here- for the princess."

Elsa took the flower, puzzled. "I didn't know they came in this shade... wait, when did you go to the garden?"

There was no answer. She looked around her- no bishop. She sat in an empty church.

Stepping out of the door, she was amid the ruins of Arendelle again. Bodies huddled frozen on the ground. Once again, she fled. On pale, dead feet, Mara walked silently in Elsa's wake, eyes black and bitter in a head crowned with bony antlers. Elsa ran, and ran, but the voices followed her, close in her ears, raucous and mocking, disappointed and blaming, telling her how she had failed...

Her father's kingdom had fallen because of her.

Everyone who had trusted her had perished.

Her secret was exposed.

She was scorned, and disgusting.

Then...

The voices stopped.

All was silent.

The world of the dream was grey and slippery. Elsa waded through knee deep water, neither warm nor cool. The sky was concealed by tree branches, yet she saw no trunks rising from the swamp around her, as far as she could see in the misty air. It was, perhaps, a place from one of her storybooks. Her skirts dragged at her ankles as she walked forward.

A figure coalesced out of the fog. It was Jani. He was dressed like a knight of old, in black surcoat and glittering mail. He smiled at her; his eyes, hypnotic, burned hot and dark. She didn't have the rose anymore...

Then he was shaking her. His voice seemed to be coming from somewhere else. Elsa couldn't make sense of it...

. .

* * *

. .

" _Kultani_! Wake up!"

Janna shook Elsa by the shoulders again, harder this time, the ice seeming to burn her fingers. Those pleading, wordless cries had stopped, at least. She shouldn't have left her alone.

 _Big, tough Crow Lord, huh?_ One whimper from Elsa, and she had come running like a child. At least no one else was around to see her acting like this.

Eventually those long-lashed lids cracked open, revealing sky blue eyes filled with confusion.

"Get off!" yelped Elsa, shoving the Crow Lord back onto her behind. Janna put her hands up.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry..." She pointed at the snow.

The Queen looked around and gasped. There was fresh powder on the ground around her body, and long, snaky threads of ice spreading out beneath it.

"I just went to clean up a bit", the northern princess explained. "I was only a minute, then you started making noises. I found, well, _this_."

Elsa shook her head, rubbing her arms in the way she did when she was anxious. "It was just a bad dream."

Hardly- Elsa was attracting the shadows- that much was obvious. They would need to stay close. No, she really shouldn't have left her...

Elsa looked at Janna. "Are you okay?"

 _Am_ I _okay?_ The princess looked herself over. "Basically- the wounds on my hand are closed, though I'll have some knotty scars..."

"No, I mean... " Elsa swallowed. "How have you been? Since... everything." She shut her eyes and seemed to be trying to steady herself.

Janna paused, feeling defensive. Was this an olive branch? _At my wit's end would be the honest answer..._ "I'm not sure..."

"Janna, I-"

The Snow Queen threw her arms around Janna and embraced her tightly, burying her face in her leather-clad shoulder. Stunned, her arms pinned to her sides, Janna tried to process what was happening. Whatever was going on, she reckoned she could get used to being hugged like this.

"Oh Janna, I'm so sorry for how I was. The _stupid_ things I said. I was so mad, and _scared_ , and stressed- but I know there's no excuse..."

Elsa slowly pulled away, and they sat there together on the frozen ground, not quite daring to look up at each other. Then Janna felt her take hold of her hand and begin to softly caress it, delicately running her fingertips over the fresh tracks the claws of the hind woman had carved.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Shit- Moment _ruined_.

Janna withdrew her hand, turning her gaze away. "I was going to, I swear. I had to, after you... Oh, but Niska ruined every damn thing." Her temper had flared up at the memory, and now her blood burned; her fingers dug into the icy ground as the shadows seeped back into her mood and turned it black.

"Do you think any of it was planned?" she snarled. "I don't know what I'm doing, Elsa! I lost my head when I met you. Nothing since has made any sense, and I'm just running ahead, blind, trying to find a scrap of light..."

She blinked back tears. Did Elsa really still have to ask? Her reaction had proven Rinne's caution pretty bloody well-founded.

So she asked the obvious question, with accusation in her tone. "If I had told you, what then? Would you have reacted better?"

That hit home. Elsa gasped, looking genuinely ashamed. There she sat, fiddling anxiously with her hair, still draped over her shoulder in that style she preferred. And oh, it gleamed like a golden rope. It drove Janna mad how she always looked so damn _perfect_ , even when run ragged and magically drugged, a week away from the nearest bathtub. Even that smudge of dirt on the soft, flawless skin of her cheek looked planned, like smudges had come into fashion and all the right people were wearing them.

Or maybe it drove her mad that she couldn't stop _noticing_ this shit! Instead of letting herself be angry at Elsa properly. She was _good_ at angry. She could stay angry at anyone- her parents sprang to mind. Whoever invented fingerless mittens. All witches, most doctors, all witchdoctors. In the dark corners of her mind, sulphurous furnaces blazed eternal for the foes and traitors occupying her family's castle. She could be angry at anyone- anyone _except_ this one woman in front of her who could render her weak as a babe with a look. _God help me if she ever realises it_...

She had that anxious look of hers, where her eyebrows would draw together and a little crease would form between them. Guilty eyes, still the cool blue of a cloudless winter morning, stared forlornly at the ground, and Janna felt herself soften. _No, no, don't let her off! Have some pride, woman!_

"I don't know", the Queen murmured, eventually. "Maybe, maybe not. I suppose you were right not to trust me. It was such a terrible day, and I didn't handle it at all well..."

Janna shook her head, feeling the inexorable beginnings of forgiveness stir within, much as her pride resisted it. "Yeah. Neither did I, I guess", she heard herself say. _How does she do that? Still her dog..._

"Thank you for sparing the mail guy, though. That was... good."

Janna shifted uneasily, remembering how she had almost lost control and killed a decent man. "You were... you were right to stop me. Thank you."

She wasn't sure anyone else _could_ have stopped her. _It wouldn't have been- Ukko was gone. I was alone, and I hurt, and I just wanted to kick and stamp..._

Elsa smiled, but then frowned, narrowing her eyes, as if struggling to think. "Wait... Where's Anna? Why aren't the others here?"

Janna shook her head, and explained how she had needed to come alone, and sent the others to wait at some ruins where it was relatively safe.

Elsa was not as reassured as she had hoped.

"Anna? You told _Anna_ to wait patiently? My sister? Whom you've _met_? You mean-" Elsa broke off her panicked burble and pulled herself to her feet. "What way are they?"

Janna got up. " _That_ way, I guess. But Elsa-"

She started to march as quickly as she could in the direction Janna had indicated. "She could be anywhere by now..."

Then the Queen turned slightly grey, and toppled forward. Janna caught her before she hit the ground, thankful for her speed. Elsa leaned hard against her, as if her legs could no longer support her weight. It would have been rather pleasant were it not so worrying. It stirred memories of a very particular kiss, and the hope that maybe, just maybe... but not when Elsa was like this. She was too vulnerable here, chased by ghostly shades, the hind's influence perhaps still lingering, making her more _suggestible_.

 _But when her head is clearer..._

Janna peered at Elsa's face; she had a slightly unfocused, dreamy expression. The Queen swayed in her arms. "You're pale... have you even eaten?"

"I only drank some tea at the Ulda's house..." Elsa looked back towards the clearing. "The _other_ Ulda."

"You can't live on fluids alone." Janna helped her to a rock clean enough to sit on, and opened her pack. "Food first, _then_ we move."

. .

* * *

. .

 _God, don't look at her..._

I accept the food from my companion with a slightly trembling hand. She doesn't notice, or puts it down to my sickness. She says the influence of that... creature will have left my mind and body drained. She smiles as our fingers touch, sweet warmth, bright as lightning that smile...

Her eyes softly burn, dark jewels filled with blue light.

 _Don't look at her._

 _She will see._

 _She will know that you are seduced._

The world still ripples and blurs around me. If I stand I will fall down again, just like before when skilful hands caught me, the touch so electric it almost hurt, though her fingers were light as whispers.

Her every movement is perfect, like a dancer. I watch her catch her raven on her wrist, whisper to it, stroking feathers as glossy black and scruffy as her hair, giggling as she murmurs in its ear. She thinks me distracted, and I am, but I follow part of the conversation. She feels joy again, and the raven is glad for her. It is because she has found me.

Am I forgiven, then?

My head spins.

My hero came for me.

Fiercely bright, perilously dark is she.

She came, and we slew the monster.

So obvious now, such feelings and sensations I never realised were there. Now, at once, overwhelming. Like when you search and search for something, high and low, emptying every drawer and turning over every chest, then suddenly find it is sitting on the dresser- right in front of your eyes the whole time, yet unseen. I overthink everything I do, question my every action. How did I not see?

For there is an ache in my gut which is not from hunger, and a giddiness which has nothing to do with an Ulda's spell.

If she kissed me now, I would not be able to stop myself.

 _Not yet. Do nothing. Tomorrow. Tomorrow your head will be clear._

But what then?

 _You are Queen- it is impossible._

Is it?

. .

* * *

. .

The magpie flapped through the twilight of the pines, the prize dangling from her beak. The heart was almost too heavy for her, and she bit down hard on its filaments so she would not drop it. It tasted like soil, and lightning. The mistress would be pleased. _So_ pleased.

Swooping down, she passed through the open window of the hut and landed on a small table. The mistress seemed distracted, running her hand across the many prizes which dangled from her ceiling. Her wooden fingers played against the edge of a golden ring, hanging by a cord, and the mistress smiled.

The mistress smoothed the magpie's feathers, and assured her in cooing tones that she was a most favoured and beloved servant, at which she thought her heart would burst with pride.

Then she offered her a plate of larvae, the sweetest grubs from the deepest roots under the earth, more than she could eat in a week. But she gave it a try, anyway. The mistress was pleased. Every inch of her sang with joy as she tucked into her struggling meal.

Meanwhile, across the table, her mistress occupied herself with the prize. _The heart of the hind. Well done, my boy- this could hardly have gone better..._

. .

* * *

. .

 **NOTES**

Elsa's going to need some time, people. Still, they're getting there. Hopefully this chapter makes some sense of her struggles.

Thanks to everyone who is still reading/reviewing/following at this point. For your patience as much as anything- I know this is the slowest of slowmances, but you know, you can't marry a man you just met...


	32. Chapter 32- The Guardsman's Tale

CHAPTER 32- THE GUARDSMAN'S TALE

* * *

 **Note:** _Sorry this took a while. I drafted a chapter, hated it, and drafted another one. Then redrafted that. And then some more. You know how it is._

 _It's mostly talk. I'll get the next one written as quick as I can, but I've been quite ill and it's been frustratingly hard to concentrate.  
_

* * *

. .

Aboard the Bellflower, terror reigned. No one had ventured down into the cargo hold for days. The small crew who had been assigned to the captured ship by Captain Rajala huddled on the main deck, sleepless and dazed, exchanging stories of poltergeists, mylings and bitter curses.

At least two had seen the lost soul of a babe, or even several, frozen to ice, with eyes like empty pits of darkness. Another had seen the shade of a great, horned beast move amid the blue ghost-light of the witch's ice, with a sound like the crunching of bones between its teeth.

And all of them, _all_ of them, had heard the giggling. The foul, uncanny _giggling_ , from just around corners, from under their beds, from every shadow, as some unseen demonic force swept around and around the dark corridors, leaving an unseasonable chill in its wake.

The commander of the skeleton crew unwisely tried to insist that they kept their cool and continued to Myrtle, as per their orders, but he was overruled, in traditional Myrtlean fashion, after a brief, but very vicious arse-kicking. Licking their respective wounds, the raiders resolved to make landfall at the nearest possible settlement, and get rid of this unnatural cargo.

It was the only sane course of action- while they still had some sanity left.

. .

* * *

. .

Meanwhile, in the depths of the high forest, perpetual twilight ruled. What should have been sunlight shining down from the treetops was unnaturally muted, and what did penetrate served only to faintly illuminate the fine, dewy mist hanging in the air, veiling the rusty brown trunks with drifting ribbons of translucent grey and purple.

Janna and Elsa stumbled on through the shadows amid the pines, arm in arm. It was not for familiarity's sake- the Queen had regained some energy after having a bite to eat, but was still shaky on her feet. Nevertheless, as soon as she could stand she had _immediately_ wanted to march off again after her sister, and so for now they leaned heavy against one another, like a couple sharing an umbrella.

Elsa was a tight bundle of anxieties, but those she expressed seemed focused on her sister right now; what remained unresolved between them went unspoken as the young monarch rambled eloquently, if still slightly feverishly, about Anna's impulsiveness, but also her fearlessness, and caring nature, and a hundred other first-rate qualities.

Janna half listened, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. She really hoped Elsa was wrong about Anna doing something dumb. She tried not to think about it too hard, though- unlike Elsa, she preferred to worry over one thing at a time, and keeping her companion from being devoured was quite enough to focus on for now.

That was probably a character flaw as much as a strength, the more she considered it. By focusing on charming Elsa, Jani had avoided thinking about Father, and home, and what they were actually to bloody well _do_ once they got to Arendelle. When Elsa had flown off she had fixated on her need to reach her and keep her safe, and shyed away from thinking about what she would possibly _say_ to the errant Queen once she did find her.

And now she listened to Elsa worrying aloud to deflect thoughts of the night before, how it had felt to hold her beautiful companion safe and sound in her arms at long last. The contented little noises she had made as she slept.

Janna hadn't slept a wink, of course. And the shadows continued to leak into her blood, settling like a migraine around her temples and making her jumpy.

After a slight trip on uneven ground, Elsa segued into how odd she felt, how the last time she had felt this off-kilter was when she had caught a cold back in the spring. Janna was surprised that someone basically made of ice magic could get colds in the first place. Then she was back to praising her sister again, recalling how Anna had brought her soup- hopefully not any she'd made herself, Janna thought- and been so _kind_ to her, even after she had 'ruined' her birthday...

Janna got the impression through all this that Elsa was terrified of _letting her sister down again_. Did she still feel responsible for the rift between the two of them during their childhood? Anna seemed totally over it.

"I'm jabbering, aren't I?" she eventually acknowledged. "I don't normally go on like this..."

Well, no. When she had been riding with both sisters, Elsa had done twenty per cent of the talking at best. It was probably down to hiding away all those years.

"It's fine", Janna laughed, leading the dizzy Queen around some treacherous ground. "I'm quite enjoying 'drunk Elsa', actually."

Without missing a step, Elsa looked up and gave her such an _impressively_ effective warning glance that she actually flinched. It was better than a schoolmistress or a judge could have mustered- azure irises were suddenly sharp as daggers and pointed at somewhere slightly beyond Janna's eyes. It was a look designed to make its target immediately, and extremely conscious that she had better mind her tongue.

In her current ratty state she felt an initial flare of annoyance at the silent rebuke, but it quickly dissipated because _damn_ , but she loved it when Elsa got imperious, rare an occurrence as it was... She quickly shut her bunghole and looked away, wondering if her companion was clear-headed enough to see the blush rising on her cheeks. Or naive enough to put it down to embarrassment...

They walked in slightly awkward silence for a time. Janna tried to find words to fill the disquieting quiet, but it was hard when she was tired and... frustrated... and wasn't exactly sure where they stood. She had been kissed, publicly shamed, profusely apologised to and slept on top of, all by one person, over the course of a couple of days. The same person who was now leaning against her a little more heavily than she probably needed to. Whose scent communicated desires she still did not speak of. So what did she want from Janna? What did her behaviour mean?

All she wanted to do was acknowledge what was there, tell Elsa what she _did_ to her, all she admired about her and all the things that drove her completely mad... to get past this...

She wasn't built for subtlety. She would have preferred simply pinning the woman to a tree and kissing the fear out of her, so much easier _and_ more fun, but knew it wouldn't really help, outside of her own fantasies. Of which there had been many, of late...

But how could she expect it to be easy? There was no code to decypher, only confusion. Elsa didn't understand her own desires- she had learned to forget them. Convinced that she was a danger to everyone, she had walled herself off from her family, from friendships, from the whole of the human sodding _race_.

What was 'romance' to a teenage girl who could not even see her own sister for fear of murdering her with a hug? Who dared not feel, who lived in terror of her own thoughts, aware that a tantrum could destroy everyone important to her? Not even a dream- someone like that could not afford to dream. If, then, as she blossomed into womanhood, her loneliness gained... _complexity_... why would she even notice? One more ache in a heart that was all scars.

 _Was that it, kultani? Did you push the feelings down, conceal them, until you didn't feel them? Until they were a pain in your goddamn bones you couldn't place, slipping, here and there, into the longing stroke of a pencil as you drew your girls in dresses, or bubbling up to the surface in crushes you carefully dismissed as admiration, or envy... anything, anything but love?_

She felt a lump rise in her throat. Her adolescence, while no picnic, had had its moments of light and comfort. Times when he had been Jani and run off after adventure, tumbling out some open castle window and into moonlight's free domain. Other times when Mother and Father hadn't been so bad, and family had felt like _family_ again. There had been dark hours, the sort of loneliness that hollowed out the bones, the kind of despair when a knife would slip to the wrist and, in the absense of hope, only sheer bloody-minded stubbornness would force it back down again. But she had had the crows, and Rinne, friends after a fashion, and it had passed.

Elsa's ordeal had not. Not for _thirteen_ years. Why had no one gotten through to her? Why had her parents let her get that bad? Her blood started to burn again... _All that time, trapped in shadow, while they did lunch and hoped she'd bloody fix herself! Fearing herself. Hating herself. Failed by her family. All alone.  
_

Then Elsa complained that she was hurting her.

 _Oh, God!_ They stopped, and Elsa rubbed her arm where Janna had held on too tight, looking aggrieved. Pale with an irrational amount of guilt, and cursing herself for a fool, Janna apologised. _The shadows. I have to remember they're in here..._

Elsa seemed satisfied, to her relief, and after a moment they continued walking.

Elsa leaned her head against Janna's shoulder as they went along, perfect cheek rubbing against the old leather. A loose blonde lock tickled Janna's jawline.

"There's a hole in your coat, you know", her companion observed, running a finger over a small tear in the hide.

Janna grunted. "It's as old as I am. It's more repairs than coat at this point."

Perusing the scarred surface of her old coat, she took a sniff of the leather lapel, as if some trace of _him_ might still be found buried within after all this time. Old hide, oil, the lingering bar odours of tobacco, beer and desperation. The acrid atmosphere of the smoking houses. The copper tang of old blood. The coat didn't smell of Rinne so much as the entirety of Myrtle. Her lost home, all folded up in her arms. Minus the fish...

"It was Rinne's, right?"

So, turned out she was easy to read. It wasn't a crime. She nodded.

"I didn't really know him. What was he like?"

Janna hesitated. She knew Elsa meant well, and in a way she should be delighted that she was trying to reach out, but it was a raw wound... the kind of pain she preferred to ignore until she could consider it from a emotionally safe distance.

But she looked at the Queen, saw compassion in those blue, blue eyes, along with... something else... and decided that, for once, she had to fight the compulsion to crawl into the back of her own head and hide.

Her blood crackled as bad memories came calling. _What can I talk about without stirring up too much?_

She ran her fingertips down the buckles absentmindedly, remembering when Ukko had first offered it up to her, as a shivering child all those years ago.

 _Better times. Speak of beginnings._

"Well", she began. "the first thing you had to understand about Rinne was, he'd never admit to being happy. Or liking anything..."

. .

* * *

. .

 **Nine years ago**

Ukko Rinne sat in the tavern of a genuinely benighted little fishing village, drinking swill that smelt of pilchards, surrounded by people who, inevitably, smelt of pilchards, listening to the soft, but uncannily oppressive drumbeat of the rain against the turf roof. As least he had reached some shelter before it started properly pissing down. A drop of mossy, muddy rainwater filtered through the cracks in the ceiling and splashed into his ale mug. It would probably improve it.

There was a mermaid skull mounted on the wall. Well, he assumed it was a mermaid's. Teeth like sharp little pearls smiled down on all the damp and huddled pilgrims.

He would have felt better- well, some better drink would help- _but_ he would also have felt better with another guardsman tagging along. Where missions and investigations took Myrtle's few lawmen out of the city walls, they were immediately seized on by farmers, fishers, miners, and all the country folk of the kingdom who normally had to fend for themselves.

Bigger issues attracted the military proper, of course- your wolf culls, your bandit dens to clear out- but crime in general flourished out here in the wilder parts. Every settlement had its suspicious death (normally the spouse, or the spouse's lover), spate of unexplained egg thefts (explaining the existence of foxes to an otherwise sane-seeming farmer had once occupied an hour he would never get back), or some other quaint provincial tragedy which caused them to look upon the arrival of a solitary, overweight guardsman like it was Niklas his sodding self, sailing on down to the world of mortals to tell us all how to kill again.

This place was no different, but with a particular twist. People had gone missing over the years. Some kids, a couple of young adults. Not, in itself, that unusual in a place with no prospects- there was always some kid running off to sea or the circus, and their parents convinced that their special little poker couldn't possibly have wanted to turn his back on a rich future of gutting herring and squiring a first cousin in the damp huddle of wood-and-turf hovels they called home.

But there had been quite a few. A ragged ferryman called Manner had been going on about his granddaughter, apparently an implausibly well-behaved nine year old, and, against his better judgement, Rinne found himself listening. As if it wasn't a wild goose chase. As if he could possibly investigate this with no back-up. He was hard pressed to do what he was travelling along the coast for in the first place- search for the princess.

Search for King Rikhard's wayward child _and_ keep it discreet. What were he and the umpteen other guards scouring the backwaters supposed to do, ask no questions but keep an eye out for a kid wearing a crown? She had always wandered back before. Of course, twelve was a dangerous kind of age for a girl alone...

Maybe a futile search for two lost girls was no harder than for one... If he looked out for the Manner kid in the course of his real business, at least the family would feel someone had given a shit, even if odds were she was already inside a wolf. Ugh, here he went again. Erik had always said he was soft in the middle. _You_ _would know all about_ _that_ , he had said, and the southern bastard had blushed like a girl.

And left anyway.

He finished his weak beer in a hurry, washing the memory away. Oh, to be young and stupid again.

The mayor was still talking. Rinne had forgotten he was there. Liked to wag his chin, this one- had the air of a retired officer type, put out to grass and bored. He was about to make his excuses and drag himself the hell away when a pair of fishermen burst in through the door, with some news. There was a ship run aground.

Twenty minutes later he was outside in the blinking piss, staring at the dark mass of a small single mast cutter, maybe a raider, broken up on the rocky shore.

He drew his old naval coat around himself, rubbing his arms and grumbling. The rain was still blistering, but he had really had no choice but to go out to the wreck and look things over. This kind of situation, there was a risk the villagers would just knife any surviving hands to make it easier to loot the salvageable cargo. He'd sailed as a young man, like many a city boy, and there were horror stories told on board about similar cases. _All_ Myrtleans were dangerous, and _none_ were trustworthy where there was potential booty to be had.

He tramped forward over the uneven shore, trying not to slip on the slimy patches of seaweed or put his boot in a rock pool, when he heard a whistle from the crags above him.

A second call convinced him that it wasn't just the wind. He worked his way up the slippery incline gingerly, partly on all fours as his heavy feet kept slipping on the wet rocks. He needed _this_ like a kick in the carp...

The mystery whistler piped up again. They were hiding behind a large rock close to the cliff face, on top of which a small ship's crow perched, looking down at him judgementally. He reached it and held on, breathing far more heavily than a man his age should.

A young voice came from the other side of the rock. "Are you having a heart attack?"

He grunted. "Oh- _gasp_ \- piss off, will you?"

"I saw your uniform. You're law, right? From the city?"

A poker from the crashed ship- who'd clearly heard the same stories he had. "Yeah, I'm with the city guard", he yelled over the rock. "Rinne. Sergeant Rinne. Are you coming down, or am I coming up?"

There was a pause.

"Oh, don't bust a lung- I'm coming."

A slight figure sprang into sight, moving lightly over the stones, reddish-blonde hair flapping wetly as _she_ descended to his level. For a moment he wondered what a girl had been doing at sea- than he recalled the drawing and description folded up in his pocket. The one he had been given by the captain on his way out of the city.

 _Well, sink me._

The princess stood level with him, under the beating rain. A cutlass was belted to her side. She was soaked, dressed only in dun breeches and a ragged, rent and bloodstained shirt. Heavily bloodstained, actually.

"My eyes are up here, mate." She eyed him suspiciously.

"Are you injured?" he pointed at the blood. She looked down, and by her face she understood.

"Not mine", she said sharply. There was something odd in her eyes as she spoke.

He eased his coat off his shoulders, and held it out to her. It was thick leather, warm, softened by long use and good care. More sense than kindness on his part- if she died of a chill it would be more than his life was worth. Still, he heard Erik tittering in the back of his mind.

She accepted the garment with the same wary manner she showed in everything else. He started to wonder what she had been through in the past week or so. It was like dealing with a panicky horse.

She pulled the coat on hesitantly, as if sure it would bite her, then buckled it up, shivering.

"Thanks."

He shrugged. "Don't mention it, your Highness."

The crow cawed at them for no apparent reason. "Shush, Echo..." muttered the princess.

She pulled away the strands of fair hair plastered against her face by the downpour and seemed to examine him carefully. Her eyes were... peculiar. Very dark for one of her colouring. "So, were you looking for me, then?"

He grunted. "Aye. Time to be going home, Princess."

She flinched at that. Something seemed to flare in those big, weird eyes of hers. "I'm not your Princess."

"Really?" Rinne rolled his eyes. "Who are you, then, a double?"

Jani stood straight, squared his shoulders, and smiled slightly.

"Me? I'm your _Lord_."

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa was silent for a long time after the story was done, as if deep in her own thoughts. Janna was inclined to let her be, and just enjoy the comforting warmth of a slender body leaning against hers. After a while, she let her hand find its way down to Elsa's waist, where it remained, neither of them saying anything on the matter. The paradoxical sensation of the Queen's body heat radiating through the cold ice crystals under Janna's fingers was... like nothing else she could think of.

Soon, of course, Elsa had to rest and eat something again. Janna sat her down somewhere dry, fussing like the servant of an old dowager, and found her some food from her pack. _Faithful hound that I am._

In truth, she had little appetite herself- her guts were tangled in knots. The forest continued to twist her mood, and it was difficult to avoid stress when every part of her life was equally scuppered- there was no happy thought to escape into.

Apricot flew down to join them. Janna gathered her in her arms and smoothed her ruffled feathers, relieved at the distraction. Her old familiar croaked merrily at the attention.

 _Sunshine now._

Once again, Janna felt that involuntary rush of warmth to her cheeks. "Yes, Apricot. I am... happy to be with my friend."

 _Winter is cold..._

"None of us can help what we are."

 _I could not see you..._

"This again? Shush, shush... it's okay. I'm clearer now. I won't lose you again. Not anyone else."

 _The false god is rot-wood. Beetle food. Yuck._

"Damn right she is", Janna murmured.

 _My mistress is carrion maker? Is death to all?_

She snorted. "Flatterer. Only those who deserve it, darling."

 _You shine brighter... Oh! Winter is your mate?_

"What?" Janna broke off the rapport hurriedly, heart jumping. That was an unnerving question to get from a bird.

Giving the old raven one final tickle under the bill, she sent her faithful friend off to find something dead to eat. No, the Ulda's body was no use on that count.

Her attachment to the woman in front of her was now even apparent to other species. _Bloody glorious..._

Elsa was tearing into her food, as Janna would have expected. Not messily, though- she just kept a continual stream of food travelling by hand from her lap to her mouth, chewing and swallowing as efficiently as she could while retaining her royal composure.

The Queen was also watching her oddly- not for the first time. Janna wasn't sure what to make of it, and almost wished she had more of an Ulda's gifts so she could tell what was going on inside that head. But that was not the hand she'd been dealt- she ruled only crows, and when she could manage an enchantment, it brought wildness, madness, loss of control.

Not that she would _ever_ do what the hind had done. There was something about knowing she'd had her grubby fingers in Elsa's head... She had taken care to memorise the exact look of mortal terror and helpless outrage in those luminous eyes as she had crowbarred the monster's poison heart out of her chest, and it filled her own with bitter warmth, even without the shadows' influence. Elsa could consider that the standard consequence for anyone who tried to hurt her from now on, whatever she... however things worked out.

 _Mine_ , she had said, although perhaps she hadn't the right. Not a possessive claim, but something else- what, exactly? Mine to... have a care for? Mine to watch over? There had been a _truth_ to the word, as she had snarled it through gritted teeth, which she couldn't quite shape in her thoughts.

 _I will not abandon you._

Words that said more than she meant them to.

Suddenly uncomfortable, she tried to find something to occupy herself. She found it far too easy to watch her companion eating, and she worried it was turning into some sort of kink.

 _Also, I think I might have proposed..._

So she focused on stitching up that tear in the shoulder of her coat. She wasn't sure when it had happened. The garment was so damn old and holed... it would have to be black thread, it was all she had. It would do for the time being.

"Aren't you eating?" Elsa asked.

"Nah", she replied, as she started to stitch. "Had some sprites earlier."

Elsa didn't query this. Instead she looked at the food in her lap curiously. "What's the... bread? Or is it cake? I didn't know this was in the supplies."

Janna smiled. "I took it from Rinne's larder the day of... when we escaped. Barley, rye, honey and raisins. It lasts a while." Elsa protested and tried to offer her some, but she waved it away.

"Hang on", said the Queen. "Shouldn't this have been added to the other supplies?" She looked at Janna with mock disapproval. "To think- what _would_ Gerda say?"

She smiled back innocently. "There wasn't much. Besides, you can't blame a Myrtlean for doing a little smuggling..."

Weak as the joke was, that earned her a gratifying chuckle- the first time she'd seen Elsa laugh in a while.

Elsa held up a sausage. "Now, I've been eating _these_ all week. They're kind of gamey. More seal?"

Janna snorted. "We griddle seal fresh or smoke it. That's probably reindeer."

Elsa froze. Not literally. She put a hand on her stomach and seemed deeply uneasy.

 _For God's sake, what do you outlanders even eat?_

"Really?" Janna asked. "Reindeer?"


	33. Chapter 33- Things Yet to be Said

CHAPTER 33- Things Yet to be Said

* * *

. .

"Get back!" Janna screamed. The darkness in front of them boiled and swam; the milky outlines of branch and sprig gnarled and twisted into each other, curling into bubbling, opaque forms of ghostlight. Into teeth. Into so, so many eyes...

"Get back!" she screamed again, shoving a still less than alert Elsa back behind her, as the shadows formed into something like a spider, but a spider of nightmares, rearing up on legs of black smoke, howling like a demoniacal baby. Feeling the weight of Snake in her hand- had she drawn it automatically?- Janna growled and sheathed the blade. There was only one defence.

She drew upon the last of the power she had leeched from the hind woman, and as much of the chaotic blackness she was absorbing from the forest itself, focusing it on her outstretched palm. She wouldn't be able to keep this up... She could feel the veins in her arm twitching like a mass of thread-worms...

The shadow creature lunged, translucent palps flailing. There was a blast of cold air on the back of Janna's neck as Elsa screamed. Janna kept her eyes fixed on the charging fiend. It was a kind of aggregate. A thousand little whispers adding up to a scream, a thousand little shades drawn up into a deep, black terror. So Janna pointed to the centre of the darkness, and with all her strength projected a single thought.

Free.

Dropping to her knees, she blacked out for a moment. Then, as her vision returned, she saw the spider shrinking, breaking apart, dissolving. Returning to the whispers.

Elsa thanked her. She pretended it had been easy.

Perhaps the darkness would not try again. Perhaps they could escape.

. .

* * *

. .

DEAREST ANNA,

I THOUGHT YOU KNEW! I THOUGHT EVERYONE KNEW, BUT IT WAS SOME BIG DEAL FOR ROYALTY AND NO ONE TALKED ABOUT IT!

THE PRINCESS, HUH? DOES THAT MAKE IT BETTER OR WORSE, REPUTATION-WISE?

IF THIS MEANS THERE WON'T BE ANY MORE RANDOM VISITS FROM GUYS IN SASHES WHO STICK THEIR GIANT-NOSTRILLED ROYAL NOSES UP AT EVERYONE WHO ISN'T GRAND DUKE OF PLACE-I-NEVER-HEARD-OF, TELL HER SHE HAS MY COMPLETE SUPPORT.

TALKING OF UPTURNED NOSES, A LOT OF MY LETTERS HAVE BEEN IGNORED, I THINK, BUT A FEW FOLK WROTE ME BACK. YOUR COUSIN, THE EVENSONG BUNCH, ONE OR TWO THAT WERE COMING TO THE WEDDING ANYHOO. OH, AND HOLMGARD OUT EAST. KAI SAYS THEY NEVER TURN DOWN A WAR OR A DRINK. NOTHING FROM YOU-KNOW-WHAT-ISLES. WAITING ON OTHERS.

HEY, AT LEAST THEY CAN SAY THEY WERE WARNED. COME BACK SAFE, OKAY? DON'T DO ANYTHING, YOU KNOW, INSANE. PABBIE TOLD ME EVEN TROLLS NEVER GO INTO THE FORESTS NORTH OF THE MOUNTAINS IF THEY CAN HELP IT, SO STEER CLEAR.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WEDDING.

YOU KNOW, REMEMBERING THAT TIME IN THE BARN SURE DOESN'T MAKE WAITING ANY EASIER... WOW... JUST AS WELL SVEN INTERRUPTED US, I GUESS. SCRIBBLING THIS IN WHILE KAI IS OUT THE ROOM, DON'T WORRY.

I HEAR FOOTSTEPS. LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING,

KRISTOFF

. .

Anna put down the letter she had read and reread over the past day or two. _Stay safe, Anna. Don't do anything, Anna... Be a good little princess..._

Growling under her breath, she folded the little note carefully, tucking it away where she wouldn't lose it. Then she picked up a rock and hurled it at a section of broken castle wall. It hit the face she had drawn there right between the eyes and broke into two pieces.

"Woah, what did _I_ do?"

Anna wheeled round. Olaf stood there, holding his twiggy hands up nervously. Weird.

"Um, nothing Olaf. We're cool."

He pointed at the wall drawing. "Then why are you throwing rocks?"

"I'm bored, and mad at Elsa and Janna for both running off and leaving me here like a spare wheel! And nobody wants to sword-fight me any more since I gave Roar that black eye, so I made this drawing with one of Elsa's stupid charcoal lumps, and..." She broke off. Olaf had walked over to her crude drawing, barely more than a frowny face, and the resemblance was... actually pretty close. The scribble where she had crossed out the nose looked like a big tooth, and...

 _Oops._

"It's not you, Olaf!" she insisted, quickly. "It's meant to be... I don't know, really."

She kicked at another rock, judging its weight wrong and stubbing her toe really badly. _Argh!_

"I can't draw, okay?" she growled, blinking back tears of pain as she limped back. "I don't have master plans, I can't revolutionise the world from behind a big desk. But me and her, we're a _team_. _Family_. She needs me, and I need her..." She leant against the broken wall, smudging the drawing with a grubby hand.

"I have to know she's okay... _anything_ could have happened." She sighed. "It's all my fault again."

. .

* * *

. .

As it happened, Elsa felt surprisingly safe. She was clearly well-protected, if nothing else. She was still drained and felt a little sick thanks to her irregular meals since jumping on that dragon, wherever it had gone now, but her head had cleared a lot, and she was trying to stop herself obsessing over what Anna might or might not do, while also adapting to the new reality that was her feelings.

 _What am I going to say to her?_

Mercifully, with the, _ahem_ , temporary imbalance which had affected her mostly out of the way, she could be around her companion without feeling like she was about to snap and... do things... but every now and then some facet of Janna would grab her attention, and she'd be reminded how _distracting_ she really was. Like the way the forest twilight set off her creamy complexion. Or the way she would sometimes throw back her shoulders and pose like she was standing to attention.

 _Sigh._ There was no denying it any more. It was a primal demand. Elsa's body wanted food, water, sleep... and _her_.

Still, she could deal with those moments. It was like ignoring a headache. Only... not in her head. And she had excellent self control.

It was the _other_ moments that threw her into turmoil.

Janna had been asking her about Arendelle, and Elsa had been relieved when the conversation had come to her reforms- one of the few things she was comfortable talking about at any length.

She explained as much as she could as they walked along, about the new industries and trades being fostered, and about the changes to the working lives of the common folk. Janna asked intelligent questions- it meant a lot that she actually paid attention, unlike Anna, who always found some excuse to leave the room whenever she started to talk about economics. Like most people, though, she took some convincing that paying someone more for working fewer hours could sometimes make more money.

It had surprised the burghers, too. Working in an iron mine was backbreaking. Miners who dug for eighty hours a week were exhausted all the time. So they worked badly, and caused accidents. The same men working sixty hour weeks were happier and healthier- they got _just_ as much dug _far_ more safely.

" _Plus_ , you can fit more workers into a shift, so unemployment goes down and productivity rises. More money. For _everyone_. Including, of course, _my_ tax collectors."

Tucked under Janna's arm, she leaned against her a little more than she needed to. The contact gave her... something she needed right now. Some sense of comfort, to bolster her against the supernatural darkness and her worries about Anna- or at least, that was what she kept telling herself.

Anna... please, God, don't let her do anything rash...

"It's good for society, too- _oh!_ " She tripped slightly, and Janna gently pulled her back onto her feet. Her body wanted to sit down, too. Another mile... she could manage another mile... "The miners see their wives and children more, so they're happier and their families are happier."

"Aye, but the poor milkman..." Janna quipped. Elsa glared at her, suspecting crudeness. _Why do I keep doing that? Bristling at everything?_

She continued. "They can afford to clothe their families properly, and eat better, so health improves again. Plus their income supports tailors, shoemakers... it all kind of... meshes together. Do you see?"

She looked at Janna, suddenly nervous, as if anything hinged on the Myrtle princess' nod of approval. But then... she'd been planning her reforms since her teens, since before... Mama and Pappa... Her 'baby', Anna had called them once.

She had smiled at the time. But the joke made her sad now.

Janna's hand rose above Elsa's shoulder and gently ran along the length of her plait. She looked out into the mournful depths of the forest before them, considering, the muted light drawing a pale grey line along the bridge of her straight, sharp nose.

"Does that mean they can afford to school their kids?"

Elsa smiled. " _Actually_ , part of the profits from royal industries go to public schooling. So my poorest subjects can learn their letters and numbers for free."

Janna had stopped walking, and looked confused, staring at her with her mouth open. She tried to elaborate. "I spent so many years sitting in the library, dreaming this stuff up- new ways of doing things, ideas people had thought of but never tried. Putting it all together. And I'd look around at the shelves and think: 'I owe it all to these books. But there are children in my kingdom who can't even read'..."

Then she was pulled to face the girl; a nimble thumb slowly traced a line down from her eye to her cheek as Janna's gaze drank her in, and she realised the princess had not been confused at all. Elsa gulped self-consciously. She hoped they weren't about to be flung into the throes of torrid passion. That happened a lot in the books she read, and she didn't think she would be able to look Anna in the face again if after all her nagging about propriety vis-à-vis Kristoff she ended up... _oh_ , she could feel fingertips dancing lightly down her back... this was definitely what torrid passion would _feel_ like...

The princess' eyes were even brighter than they had been earlier, but filled with an immeasurable softness- like they were no longer solid objects at all, but open windows into a world of shadow and flame, slowly drawing her in...

Yet there was a smile there, too- tugging mischievously at the corner of an exquisite lip.

"God, you're sweet..."

Then, just as Elsa began to brace herself for the sensation of that woman's kiss, she pulled back, agitation in her luminous gaze.

Mumbling an apology, Janna just... carried on walking as if nothing much at all had happened, leading a slightly dazed Elsa along with her.

Elsa had seen that expression before. Janna had been _careful_ with her, since the incident with the antlered Ulda. She had given her looks that made her feel like her face would catch fire, but never ventured to so much as return the kiss Jani had once received. Not that she would expect her to actually, um, _take advantage_ of her state. That would be unfair stereotyping of barbarians _or_ pirate princesses. But she had watched her like a nurse, and seemed almost excessively anxious to respect Elsa's boundaries. Not that she _shouldn't_ have been, but... oh, nevermind. She had been a friend.

 _A better one than I have been..._ and then there was the way her companion's laugh lifted her, or how it had felt to fall asleep in the arms of the one who silenced the shadows. She had offered shelter and support. And what had Elsa done?

 _No. Focus on the present. What you will say to her._

She was glad Janna understood about the reforms. How much it mattered.

Maybe it would help her to see why Elsa had to be so careful. Why there couldn't be any... scandals...

The men in her books wouldn't have pulled away. She hadn't really thought about it before, but girls in stories tended to get choices made for them. Another way reality worked differently. Proud and dominant people were actually vaguely threatening, and one epiphany didn't solve all your problems. And here she was, like the maiden in that old tale, trying to mark the difference between real life and mirrored shadows. _Hah!_ \- even her point of reference was a fantasy...

All the more reason to live outside the tower.

 _Maybe I read too many of those books_...

. .

* * *

. .

A surprising follow-up came maybe an hour later, as they picked their way through some spiky brush, trying not to tear the skin off their ankles.

"So, these burghers _really_ hate you, then."

A bit stunned, Elsa opened her mouth to dispute the suggestion, but found she couldn't. It was something she had not fully acknowledged before- _another_ thing she had not acknowledged, apparently. "In the long run they're richer, and I've tried to win them over, but... How did you know?"

"Elsa." Janna's face bore an expression of weary patience the Queen was more used to levelling at Anna than being on the receiving end of herself. "It's a fact of life that you can't humiliate powerful men and expect them to thank you for it."

 _Humiliate?_ Elsa looked at Janna blankly.

Her companion sighed. "Put yourself in their shoes. You're a wealthy, respected merchant and landowner. You're on top of the heap, proud of your successes. Big, fancy hat, I'd wager, all trimmed with fur. Then a twenty-something _woman_ , practically a _girl_ , wanders out of her bedroom and carefully explains how every decision you've ever made was wrong. Does it feel good?"

Elsa turned the concept over in her mind a few times. She had always hoped that the coolness of the burghers towards her was down to her youth, but something that would pass once she had proven herself. Yet she continued to struggle with them- in fact, they were getting ever more disagreeable. The princess' suggestion made sense of a lot of it. And her prediction about the hats was positively eerie.

"They _have_ been getting more and more difficult, and I did... I never meant to make a fool of anyone..."

Janna rolled her eyes. "You, _kultani_ , are a _wonder_. But to people like that you will always be, first and foremost, a womb on legs."

"I'm the Queen!"

"Aye. A name normally given to the poor mare who has the King's kids, not your actual crown jockey with your actual sovereign power. They'd rather bow to another beard- they're conditioned to want that."

She kicked at a stone in her path- it knocked the head from an ashen rabbit twenty feet away.

They reached a stream. Elsa threw a simple ice bridge across it. Janna curtsied theatrically, holding up an invisible skirt hem, and they crossed.

"I've _lived_ as a man, Elsa. And as a nameless peasant boy I was taken more seriously than I ever was as the daughter of the king." She shook her head in disgust. " _I_ know how they talk about us. When we aren't around. Not many men _hate_ women, in truth. We're their daughters and mothers and lovers. But we're like children to be taken care of. Guided. Poor, delicate, silly little things. We need big, strong men to make decisions about serious matters, like war and politics and money."

Elsa looked at her slyly. "Or... to explain things to us which we already know?"

Janna paused. "Ah. Quite."

She took Elsa's hand. "You are _such_ a Queen. Do what you would do. Just be on guard. Many would tame you. Many would stop you. _Don't let them_."

There was such forceful sincerity in Janna's final words that Elsa temporarily lost the ability to argue, or repond with more than a mumbling squeak. Janna released her hand, gently as ever, and continued to support her on their way.

"Thanks, Elsa", the dark-haired princess murmured, a few minutes later.

"What for?"

"For listening to me rant. And not just assuming the northerner dyke has a problem with guys."

She would have to discuss that particular choice of words... another time, though.

Elsa squeezed Janna's arm. "How could you hate men _and_ want to be one?"

Janna stiffened slightly. "It's not a matter of 'wanting'." She sighed. "Who'd volunteer for _this_?"

Elsa wasn't sure what to say to that, so they fell back into silence. That silence filled with tense significance that filled the air around them whenever a conversation drew to a close, and reminded her of all that had been said, or was yet to be said.

Maybe she should take Janna's advice on board- admit that some people would never like her and deal with it. She wouldn't consult her on specifics- making her captains of industry walk the plank might be counterproductive. But Anna had also told her she needed to be less apologetic, which at the time she had put down to their different temperaments. And anything which could undermine her reforms had to be paid close attention, for the sake of the people she was working to help. And Janna, like her own sister, seemed to really understand people. Elsa envied that.

Take the second time they had stopped to eat. Janna had sworn at a sudden memory, and rummaged frantically though the depths of the rucksack she had brought. Then she had fished out a small bag with silver clasps, and handed it to Elsa with apologies. Something she had forgotten earlier, she had said.

It was a cosmetics kit, and that had surprised her- of all the things for an unusually scruffy girl to remember when packing for a forest rescue. She seemed to apply her own eyeshadow with the back of a thumb.

"Well", Janna had said, shrugging self-consciously and scratching at the ground with the steel tip of a boot, "you're always perfectly presented. Even trekking through mountains and caves. So I reckoned it... must... matter to you a lot..."

And that had left her speechless for a moment. It did. Of course it did, when since childhood she had always felt everyone's eyes on her. To know that she could at least _look_ satisfactory... Elsa would never have picked up on something like that.

But it was Anna's make-up. Janna had 'borrowed' it, rather than going through the Queen's 'royal stuff'.

"Smuggling and now theft", she had jested. "The list of charges is growing..." She had laughed at that, and Elsa had laughed too, and tried to hide how it felt to know that Janna had noticed.

This and a dozen other thoughts now rattled around in her head like a gale, trying to settle into some order.

 _Oh, if it were only desire..._

 _Would she understand?_

 _Would she listen?_

 _I know what I have to do, but..._

 _The reputation of my family and kingdom..._

 _I have to talk to her._

. .

* * *

. .

Another mile or two, and Elsa's legs buckled under her. Janna growled something, and helped her over to a tree she could sit up against.

"It's no use pushing yourself like this, Elsa", she scolded, pulling an ice shoe from a swollen foot. The Queen winced, and let her other shoe simply dissolve. The discomfort from her ankles down was enough to discourage her from arguing about the necessity of the break.

"Sodding blisters everywhere..." the Princess muttered.

"Do you have to swear so much?"

Janna sniffed. "Do _you_ have to wear heels and a frock for a mountain hike? We all have our quirks."

Elsa stopped herself, realising from the hardening of her eyes that her companion had taken offence. "I didn't mean anything by it, I just-"

"Don't _fix_ me, Elsa. Don't."

Janna's tone had a finality to it. She started to massage Elsa's feet, not meeting her gaze.

Elsa watched her silently for a while, considering.

"Have a lot of people tried to 'fix' you?"

Janna nodded, something particularly dark in her expression. Her ministrations were _really_ helping with the pain...

"I won't."

Janna looked up at her. "Can you promise that?"

Elsa managed a pained smile. "How you are is okay."

Back to being the jester, Janna raised an eyebrow. "Only 'okay'?"

"Oh hush..." Elsa looked around at the trees they found themselves among. More aspen and birch mixed in with the pines now, and some smaller conifers. They had to be near the edge of this 'high forest', as Janna called it. It was a relief to see they had made progress. If only she had been able to keep going another hour or two...

Progress...

It would have to be now. Before she was too tired, and they spent another night without dealing with this. It was kindest to Janna. It was kindest to _her_.

 _God, I'm scared..._

"Janna?"

"Yeah?"

Elsa breathed in and out slowly, trying to build her courage. _I shouldn't be scared._ _She'll understand. She's royalty. She knows how our world operates. I... I hope._

"Janna, we have to talk."

"Ah."

. .

* * *

. .

To be continued. Duh. Duh. DUH...


	34. Chapter 34- The Mirror Crack'd

CHAPTER 34- The Mirror Crack'd

* * *

. .

Janna cleared her throat. She was looking at Elsa expectantly.

The absence of birdsong within the hostile forest gloom was suddenly very noticeable. It was incredibly quiet. Elsa could hear her own breathing. Did she normally breathe so loudly? Janna could probably hear it.

The princess picked a stray pine needle out of her tangled hair. "So..." she mumbled.

"Yes..."

"I assumed you meant that you would be talking."

Elsa blushed. "I will, I'm... new to this."

Part of her wished Anna were here to offer advice. She knew how to talk to people. Then again... no, perhaps it was best that there were no other witnesses.

She tried to think of a way to begin. Anxious hands fidgeted with her heavy plait as they always ended up doing; she was sure it must look odd, but she couldn't seem to keep them still.

She took a deep breath. "Can I tell you a story?"

"That's... not what I was expecting, but okay..."

 _Maybe this isn't how to start. But at least it might clear the block from my head..._

"I barely left home for thirteen years", Elsa began. "And when you're stuck indoors you _live_ through stories. I always treasured them. They're almost... little pieces of other lives, exciting lives that _you_ can't lead. You leaf through an old book, and can imagine the salt sea air of a tropical island, the crash of some ancient battle... Maybe it's one reason I like to travel with you. You start talking about some old hero or adventure and I'm... transported..."

She took a moment to breathe. Janna seemed to be doing the same.

"But, there was one story I used to read time, and time again. Even though it... although it made me sad."

"What's the tale? Fiction or history?"

Elsa shrugged. "Nobody is sure which, at this stage. It's a story from a kingdom far to the west, named Camelot, which fell long, long ago. It... maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. In my book it was called The Lady and the Mirror. Do you know it?"

Janna shook her head. "Don't think so."

 _Pity. That would have saved me embarrassing myself..._

"Oh. Well... I'm not much of a storyteller, but I suppose I'll do my best..."

. .

* * *

. .

There was once a river, running through the green forests and beside the golden fields of the land of Camelot. Partway along its course it struck a rocky outcrop and split into two clear streams, which ran down to the great city side by side. The outcrop, then, sat between these two waterways, which produced an abundance of lilies in every shade, and were shaded by ancient willows, draping their branches across the surface of the water. The locale was, it had to be said, beyond beautiful.

On the outcrop sat a small castle. The walls enclosed a rose garden which was, unaccountably, immaculate, for the castle had but one inhabitant, who had never once so much as looked upon the garden.

Of the castle's four towers, three had crumbled into ruin. The fourth contained the Lady of the keep. And, day or night, summer or winter, she never left that tower.

She had never walked through the rose garden, never plucked a blossom for her hair, nor pricked a finger. She had never stepped outside the castle walls, and watched the lilies upon the stream, or listened to the soughing of the willow branches. She had never looked out beyond, where the farmers tilled their fields, sweating in the golden sun, or watched the many travellers on horseback riding down the riverside road to Camelot, although the clip-clop of hooves often carried to her window. Nor could she remember when she had last spoken to a living soul.

Day and night, springtime to harvest and back again, she sat with her back to the window, weaving a tapestry. She never ceased, and yet her fingers never tired, and she never questioned why she could not remember when last she had slept, or eaten. For she knew that an enchantment lay upon her, and upon the loom, and the tapestry she wove. It lay also upon the great mirror that stood beside her, her only companion. She had been told, and she remembered, though she had forgotten the teller, that she did not belong in the world of men. In her fairy castle she must linger, and weave her fairy web, and not look beyond the walls. If she did, the spell would be broken, and all her labour for naught.

Within the pooling glass of the Lady's mirror, images would stir. She would see the shadows of the willows over the water, the farmers in their fields. The whisper of lovers murmuring softly to each other amongst the reeds. The echo of marching soldiers on their way to Camelot. So she watched the mirror, day in, day out, studying the shadows of life in the world of men. And as she wove, hands dashing across the loom, she worked the images she saw into her tapestry. Within her tapestry, the Lady walked through the fields of corn, picked out in shimmering golden thread. Within her tapestry, she rested beneath the willows, or sat with a lover, hair dressed with the lilies from the shallows. Within the tapestry, the Lady entered a boat and sailed down to Camelot. And oh, what a wondrous place she envisioned. What clothes the people wore. How they danced and feasted, gambolling across the breadth of that shimmering fairy cloth, a tapestry Lady at the forefront of each new celebration.

She would never see the city. She could never walk through the fields, or the spell would be broken. But she had the shadows of a life, or of many lives, and the tapestry was fair beyond description. She had security, and would never know hunger, or the wolves that came by night- could these peasants who passed by on the road claim so much? She had her task, and her task must continue to be carried out. So she remained, and worked the loom, watching the shadows play in the looking glass, and tried to remember the feel of a heartbeat.

"Yet I am half sick of shadows", she would whisper, gazing sadly into the mirror with eyes that did not cry, and did not blink; still she wove her fairy web, capturing the mortal world in golden images, but never partaking of it.

One day, a new figure passed by, on his way to Camelot. He made quite a sound as he did so, for his charger paced proudly along the stony road, and his heavy armour clattered until it sounded like a small battle was being waged by the riverside. Here was the champion of the northern court, on his way to enter the service of the king himself. His plate and his mail were burnished bright, and shone under the cloudless morning sky like pieces of the sun.

His image came, as that of most travellers did, into the depths of the Lady's looking glass. Though much dimmed and distorted, she saw the great steed, snorting and whinnying, rich barding in twelve colours lain over flesh the colour of bronze. She saw the champion knight's armour flash in the dazzling light, like the waters of her streams often had, yet she had never gone to see. She saw him lift the great, plumed helm from his head, broad shoulders flexing, and watched curls blacker than coal tumble out over the nape of his neck. She watched as a gloved hand wiped a sheen of sweat from a strong brow. She stared as eyes deep and dark as a moonless night passed over the rippling waters she had never seen, smiling at the fair lilies she had never plucked, gazing delightedly at the willow trees she had never taken a walk beneath, and finally, looking confidently off towards the distant city of Camelot.

As she watched, she knew that the end was come upon her.

 _For I must look. I must go to him_.

She rushed to the window, leaning her head out as far as she could, to catch some glimpse of the handsome rider's back. As she did so, the sunlight fell upon her face, and her hair, and her shoulders, and she felt its warmth, _real_ warmth, for the first time since she could remember. A moment later, she heard a _crack_ in the room behind her, like a snapping bone, as the great mirror split across its surface, and her tapestry began to unravel. A moment more, and she felt a lancing pain in her chest, deep and cutting. And in the next breath, another, and then another- for her heart had begun to beat.

She realised that she had little time, as her body was sure to fail her, so she stumbled down the crumbling, spiralling steps of her tower. Passing among the roses which adorned her courtyard, she picked the fairest of the summer blossoms, gathering them up in her skirts. Then she passed straight out through the main gateway, for the bars of the portcullis had long since rusted through.

The rider was already out of sight. The pain which shook her with every heartbeat grew worse, and she spilled some of the roses over the grassy bank, red and white confections nestling amid the dark green weeds, but she laughed and paid it no mind. She lived, for the moment, and she would go to Camelot. She would see the city. She would look upon those deep, dark eyes before her life ended.

By happy chance, some young lovers had left a boat tied up on the bank. She gathered up the fallen roses and spread them over the bottom of the boat, although the effort tired her. Her bones and muscles ached- and it felt so _real_ that she could barely speak for joy. Although the Lady understood that she had not an hour to live, she could not remember what had frightened her so, that she had lingered in that tower for so many empty and forgotten days. And so she sang to herself a song of freedom, of hope, of life- a song without words, which dipped and danced like the music of the nightingale. And the workmen in the fields, although they could not see her, ceased their work and stood stock still, listening to the song which arose from the shade of the willow trees.

When she had gathered up the flowers, she climbed into the boat and untied its rope, letting the current bear her gently downstream. She was ever so tired. She could not remember ever having slept. She lay back in the boat, still murmuring her song, as she drifted along on the water, down to the place where the river was barred off. Down to the gates of Camelot.

At the great entrance of the city there was no small commotion, as the body of a fair lady floated into view, lying on a bed of roses, in a little rowing boat. And everyone who had been walking by the river, or whose house the boat had passed by on its course, was gathered about the new arrival. Who was she? How had she come to meet this fate?

Observing the uproar among the townsfolk, the champion knight trotted over. Dismounting, he pushed merchants and farmers aside, gripped by a sudden, but intense curiosity. A boat had been dragged onto shore, and within it lay a woman of noble attire. Her skin had turned to white, but it was apparent that she had been beautiful.

His dark eyes fell to where her hands were clutched together over her heart. Opening them gently, he found a small lily blossom, plucked from the water. He placed the small flower in the lady's hair, then gazed at her, as if uncertain why he had done so, or what to do next.

"Who is she, Lancelot? Do you know?" asked another knight.

Started from his reverie, the champion considered, but shook his head. "Sadly, I do not."

Then he mounted his horse, and returned to the city.

. .

* * *

. .

Janna looked down at her hands.

"Shit... I was hoping for a happy ending."

Elsa shook her head. "The ending isn't the point, I don't think." Janna didn't respond.

She hesitated. How to go from the story to what she needed to say? The connection was so obvious in her head... this was why people hired speech-writers.

"Janna, you..." She swallowed. "You know my position. My reputation as Queen has already been... undermined in some eyes, by the revelation of my abilities. My people are loyal, and I've kept most of our trading partners, but I have to be very careful how I behave. That means that I can't just-"

"Elsa, stop. Please. I _get_ it." Janna stood, rubbing her neck. Her tone was low, controlled, but her deep blue eyes crackled and spat.

"But you need-"

The princess raised her hand. "I said I get it! I can't make your choices for you, and I know you have your plans. Maybe you don't need me turning everything upside down." Emotion was starting to bubble up in her voice now. _No, this isn't what I wanted..._ "Just... I don't need to hear the million-word version, okay? Not when you could just say 'no'."

She turned and started to stalk off. Was she leaving? She couldn't leave! Elsa tried to say something, but she felt like her lungs were imploding. Her heart hammered in her ears. _No, no, no... How did I mess this up so badly?_

"Stop..." she gasped, pulling herself up onto her aching feet. "Wait..."

Janna shook her head. "You can't just take what you want from me, Elsa..."

She kept walking.

She was leaving.

 _No._

"No!" A strangled scream burst through Elsa's throat, as dread turned to active panic. Her magic awoke, and icy chains flashed into existence, wrapping around Janna's ankles and dragging her bodily back along the ground towards her. Terrible manners... but by God she was angry and she was _sick_ of this. Janna came to a halt in front of her, struggling and screaming something unrepeatable, and she willed further manacles to restrain the aggravating girl's arms, before half collapsing on top of her and gripping both Janna's ears to force her to _look_ at her.

"You're not running away again!" she snarled. Janna, eyes wide, stopped struggling. She seemed to have given up on _interrupting_ , too, which gave the Queen a fighting chance. Wiping a tear from her eye with the end of an icy sleeve, Elsa paused a moment to regroup, and consider how to fix the situation.

She watched the princess' lips slowly part and close, in time with the rising and falling of the chest currently wedged between her knees. She ran a thumb along that exquisite mouth, prompting Janna to gasp, as she pondered how it could produce so much foul language and still look so... delicate...

There was only one way forward, really. She leaned in, inhaling that sweet, smoky scent, and met Janna's lips with her own. It was not a long kiss- her nerves could only take so much testing. Nor was it breathlessly passionate, which wouldn't have seemed fitting when she had the uncooperative northern woman bound like this. But for a tender, lingering moment, she let her mouth wordlessly communicate the reassurances Janna clearly needed. Such a strange thing, a kiss... if you thought about it... oh, but it felt wonderful...

She pulled away, and sat up on Janna's midriff, playing with her plait nervously as she waited for a reaction.

Janna blinked.

"I have never been more confused", she stated, a little hoarsely. The combination of bewilderment and... something else... on her face was simply precious.

Elsa tutted, regaining some of her composure. "Well, if you won't listen..."

A dozen unreadable emotions flashed across Janna's face, animating those lanterns that were her eyes.

Elsa decided to have another shot at explaining.

"If this were simply desire, I would probably ignore it." She shrugged. "I have never been a self-indulgent person, and my obligations as Queen trump any tawdry passion."

"But this _isn't_ just 'desire'." Janna replied, flatly.

A statement, not a question. Good, they might be on the same page.

"No." Elsa shook her head, still fidgeting with her hair like an infant. "No it isn't."

"I've noticed a bad pattern. In myself. I don't understand my feelings, but I carry on, on my own, not dealing with them- until it all blows up at once and I do something _shameful_. Hurt the people I care about..." She brushed a loose lock of black hair from Janna's forehead. How she wished she could change what had been said...

"So this is me taking control of the situation. I don't know how I feel about... this. All of this. I don't know if it's right, for me or for Arendelle, or if there's any future in it. But I can't figure it out on my own. If I put a stop to this, _us_ , right now, I know it would be out of fear, and I'd never really fix anything. I'd just go back to concealing that part of me. It's... a problem I have."

"So where does that leave us?" The northerner woman frowned. Her eyes were fainter though, which Elsa hoped was a positive sign.

"Janna, you've been a friend. You've been good to me when you... when you can't have expected very much in return. You never... took advantage... even when I might have forgiven you." She put a hand to her face. _No, I didn't just say that aloud_...

Best to push on. "And you've never lost patience with me- unless one counts that freaking out thing you did just now- which counts for a lot. I'll... need you to stay like that. I can't promise that I will never test your patience again. And it's important that you _are_ someone I can trust- to be _discreet_ , not to _push_ me, to do things _properly_. Insofar as propriety is still possible."

Janna smiled. "Propriety?"

Elsa sniffed, and drew herself straight. "Yes. I am a _Queen_. I have to be mindful of my station. I carry the reputations of my kingdom and my family, and I don't have the right to throw either away by acting brazenly."

"But, if you are willing- assuming you haven't completely given up on me at this point, and who would blame you?- _and_ if you were prepared to take things as slowly as I need, which may be _very_ slow... gosh, I'm all nerves-"

She took a couple of slow breaths before continuing.

"Then, Queen to Princess, I would very, very much like to court you, Janna Marttila. Properly, the way we both deserve. And to be courted by you, in turn."

Janna looked astonished, but not exactly displeased. Elsa watched her think for a few moments.

"You want... to be my _suitor_?"

Elsa smiled. "Very much so. You... entrance me."

Janna thought some more.

"Have you some reply to my suit?" Elsa ventured.

Janna smiled, just a little. "I think it'd help me make up my mind if you kissed me again..."

"That depends on your behaviour", she replied archly, trying not to grin like a fool. A yes. That was definitely a _yes_.

Overwhelmed with relief, Elsa looked around her dreamily, realising that the Crow Lord was still shackled hand and foot. "Would you like me to untie you first?"

"No, I'm game," she laughed. "Probably not very 'proper', though."

"You are so weird..."

Janna rolled her eyes. "Elsa, this is the only time I will _ever_ say this, but untie my wrists and stop straddling me."

 _Oh!_ Elsa jumped up, finally grasping Janna's meaning. She let the ice chains disintegrate, and the princess sprang to her feet, brushing herself down.

"I am all muddy... well, even more than before..."

Elsa smiled, cleaning a smudge of dirt from _her_ lady's cheek. "Maybe I _like_ you a little grubby."

Janna raised an eyebrow. "Grubby, chained up and on my back. Huh. Well, it's a dynamic."

From her grin, this collection of random words clearly meant incredibly amusing to the Myrtlean, although Elsa wasn't sure why. Something crude again, probably.

Reaching up to cup the silly pirate's face in her hands, she snatched another brief, sweet kiss from her lips, which brought a gratifying flush to her cheeks, before wrapping her arms around her and just... holding her. Allowing herself to be held.

She was still barefoot. Janna probably wasn't more than two inches taller than her, but those big boots of hers easily doubled the difference, so that her mouth now rested on the soft skin of her collarbone. She could feel the princess' breathing, hot against the crown of her head. The rapid, fierce rhythm of her heart. Oh, she was so _warm_. It was such a relief to hold her, with no more pretence. She thought she might melt in this heat...

She pulled away when she felt her companion's body start to shake with... laughter?

 _Barbarians.._. Seeing that Elsa's best and most effective royal glare was being directed at her, Janna tried to get her giggling fit in check. "Sorry, sorry..." She cleared her throat. "It's the emotion, I guess. We don't really do 'feels' in Myrtle, and my head's still spinning."

She shook her head, gazing up into the branches with the biggest smirk on her face. "'Janna, I want to take things slow'. That's all you needed to say!" She added up on her fingers. "Seven words, and you could probably cut it down to five or six..."

Elsa frowned. "It wasn't as easy as that. I can't make any... commitments yet. Not until I've figured this all out-"

Janna put a finger to her lips. " _Voi luoja_... Elsa, that's how relationships _normally_ work. You meet someone you like, and for a while you get to know each other- decide how you really feel before making any long-term plans. It's called having a _girlfriend_. The commons all match up this way- it's only us royals who turn engagement into a mad game of Rusland roulette."

"But- but there's also the question of proper conduct-"

"Well, _duh_ , we've known each other less than a month. Do you think we don't have standards up in Myrtle?"

Elsa stood quietly for a moment.

"I've overthought this whole thing, haven't I?"

The northerner princess nodded, with a kind smile. "Yeah. But I overthink too, so don't worry."

It was at that point that Elsa started to lean a lot harder on Janna, as her body remembered that it was exhausted. But as her mind was finally clear, and she felt rather inspired, all things considered, she forced herself to stand unaided a little longer and, with a gentle wave of her hand, allowed a dozen icy trees of her own to rise up around them, flat canopies like fractal parasols spreading and blossoming in the shadow of the ancient boughs, until they formed a smooth, blue ceiling over their heads. Mica-like walls sealed them in, and predators securely _out_ , and the pavilion was complete. It would have been better with a floor, but they had no furs and she didn't want Janna to freeze solid overnight. If this _was_ night. The darkness never really lifted... they seemed to just be sleeping when Elsa needed to, and it can't have been more than eight hours or so since she had last awoken, dazed and afraid, looking for Jani.

Janna's arms wrapped around her. Warm lips brushed against her ear, making her start, ticklishly. "I'll never get over watching you create, _kultani_... Sorry I freaked out earlier."

"It's alright. I've been there."

"It's just... ever since I arrived in this damn wood, all I've wanted to do is cry, or scream, or kill someone. The dark just crawls right up inside my brain. Makes my powers ten times worse. And when I thought you were saying... what I thought... I was afraid. Of losing control. Of... I can't even say it..." Her voice was hoarse.

Elsa sighed. "Oh, yes", she murmured. "I've been there, alright."

They got ready to sleep quietly. There was a pool next to the pavilion but it was filthy, so Elsa made a new one, forming a mass of ice and then melting it, so that they could wash and refill their water bottle.

Once they were done, they lay down on the driest section of ground, face to face. Strictly speaking, this meant that they were sharing a room- a terrible start to a properly conducted courtship. Janna agreed never to tell a soul, though- especially Anna. An elder sister had to set a good example.

Most of these rules probably weren't necessary in her case. She trembled like a baby deer whenever Janna kissed her on the cheek- she would probably explode like an icy firework if they slipped into any more... disreputable behaviour, before she was used to the level of intimacy they already had.

"Elsa", her companion murmured, dreamily, "Whyever did you tell me that story where the lady takes a risk and dies?"

"That's not what it's about." Elsa tried to get a few more clear words out of her exhausted brain. "I thought so as a child, but I reread the story a few months ago, since my coronation, and I realised I had it all wrong." She smiled. "It's about life. She chose _life_. And yes, it was only an hour, but it was _real_. She'd existed in her tower, kept there by fear, but she'd never lived- only watched other people live. Like me in my room, with my books, all those years, watching out the window as my sister played in the sun by herself. 'Trying to remember the feel of a heartbeat'. I'm done with that- with fear. I was a year ago, and I am now. _Whatever_ happens."

She felt a hand slip into hers, causing goosebumps to stir along the whole length of her arm. She looked down at their entwined fingers; without really meaning to, she must have reached out.

It was a nice feeling. She was slipping away into sleep now. Janna's eyes were already closed; it was safe, she had said, as crows were on guard outside, and they could wake her if need be. Elsa hadn't enquired into the details.

Janna's chest slowly rose and fell, inked skin visible through the unbuttoned fabric of her shirt. She really should ask about that tattoo. But then, she'd inevitably imply that it wasn't the marking that Elsa had been looking at. Which, since this was a night for honesty, wouldn't be entirely untrue...

Starting to slip away...

Janna's face. How wonderful to wake up to that face...

Elsa slept.

Janna slept.

. .

* * *

. .

 **NOTE:**

After a lot of discarded drafts, I think this outcome fits her character best. At points I considered them having a big fight and airing their grievances, but I wanted to strike a balance between Elsa remaining the person who had shut Anna out (not just discarding that personality trait), and Elsa trying to learn from her mistakes and grow. Also, I don't see J throwing a tantrum. Much like Elsa, if she were the type to lose her temper over personal grievances, she wouldn't have gotten through her teens without wiping out her whole family. Still, more on that in later chapters.

Oh, and yes, that's Tennyson's _The Lady of Shalott_.


	35. Chapter 35- Jani, Part 1

CHAPTER 35- Jani, Part 1

* * *

. .

The teaspoon rang against the edge of the teapot, as Janna stirred.

"Will you not have a cup?"

The hind did not respond, but just sat there at the little table, limply, like a clockwork toy in need of a wind. The trees around them shivered, whispered, and went on forever, as is possible in dreams. Amid the rusty-barked pines, vague figures drifted and stumbled about, translucent as mist.

Mouse Eye sat on the table, like an attentive shadow. Only an echo. Janna tried not to look at him.

Since her guest was being unsociable on account of being dead, Janna poured her a cup of something thick, cold and black.

"Nothing for me, I won't be staying long."

Janna looked around, to see Mari approaching through the pines, shades and echoes fleeing before her footfall. The old Ulda pulled out a chair and sat down next to Janna and her 'guest', cracking her knuckles in the manner of someone trying to look at ease. Except... she _wasn't_ all that old at the moment.

Janna hummed thoughtfully, as she gently tipped the hind's head back and poured the liquid down her throat, provoking a subdued whimper. Then she tore off an ear and crunched on it.

"How is it?"

"Tastes like winning, don't you know. She'll be just another one of these echoes soon enough." Janna commented, indicating the ghostly shapes that drifted mournfully about the forest dreamscape. She finished chewing and swallowed. "Mari Mäntylä, well well. Say- I know I never remember these dreams, but are you normally here like this? Seems... different."

"I'm not a dream. I'm just paying a call."

Janna paused. "O- _kay_. Here in my dream. Right. Have you always been able to do that?"

The wood hag snorted. "Not for a while. My health has had a boost recently." She nodded towards the gradually diminishing form of the hind woman. "Cheers for that."

"Yes, I noticed you had two arms now." Janna rubbed her chin. The Ulda looked generally a lot smoother and less gnarled than when she had first met her, some years before. So... Janna had not been the only one to feast. "Will there be consequences?"

"There always are", muttered Mari, rolling her eyes. "Though mostly for the better. _Her_ absence will fracture the opposition- the wild and wayward ones. Make it easier to reassert control over the forest. Provided you hold up your end, of course."

A subtle tremor ran through the forest. The Ulda looked around. "What was that?"

Janna smirked. "Something new, Grandmother." She took hold of the hind woman's loosely hanging hand and began to deftly snap the fingers off, one by one. "Now, I assume you're here to confirm we still have a compact. I start up the tributes again, undo what my predecessor did, and in return you basically sort your shit out." She held up a hand. " _Don't_ explain, please- I've no interest in the politics of wood spirits, I just want the sun to come up in this place. You know, the sun? And generally some animal life that isn't cursed or insane. Might be healthy."

She tapped a severed wooden digit against the table like a pencil. "Now, you'll be _going_ soon, so I'll make this brief. As of right now, there's a new condition to our deal. If you want any kind of peace between us, you'd best not screw around with my Elsa again. God knows she's a state as it is- keeping her safe is a full time job."

The Ulda drew herself up indignantly. "I offered her my hospitality when she was in need. I can't see how-"

"Oh, piss off." Janna's tone and face darkened. "You told her just enough, and acted just so as to make her feel unsafe, then left her be." She leant forward, eyes growing hot; and now the tremor returned, intensified, making the pines quiver like blades of grass. "You saw her heart. _Knew_ she'd leave. You knew she'd be fair game once she did. Us Lords- we've been hunters ever since your boy, so don't give me that bullshit. Bait for the trap is what she was."

Mari betrayed no particular emotion. "It worked out in the end."

"She nearly got eaten! One more minute, one more and I- I-"

 _I nearly lost her._

"Aye, but now you're all cosy and _that_ one is out of the way of all of us." The Ulda rose and stepped away into the trees. "Told Satu it was in the blood. Ha!"

Then she was gone, fading like bitter laughter before Janna could summon a retort for the heartless shitbag. She growled, and gripped the edge of the table until her knuckles turned white, trying to slow her breathing. _Peace. Don't lose any more family._

The fading ghost of Mouse Eye croaked at her inquisitively. Crows, parents, friends... she must have been careless, to lose so many she loved. Maybe it was just her egoism talking, yet she could not escape, as ever, the torturous feeling that each death had been preventable, if only she could turn back the clock... see Kaarlo for the traitor he was, or gut Niska before he had the chance to take the initiative. Hindsight, bloody hindsight.

 _I can't lose anyone else._

No point troubling over it right now. The night was over for Janna, anyway.

Sparks flew through the chilly air as each and every tree burst into flames of deepest blue, roaring like the sea. And the tremors continued to grow, shaking the burning forest, until the dream began to grind itself apart, the trees and the ghosts and the fire and the earth all blending themselves together and fading into darkness. And Janna drifted down, down inside her head, knowing, as she sank, that this dream would be forgotten. Just like all the others.

. .

* * *

. .

The baby had come.

Elsa had heard it first, before anyone had told her. The whole castle was filled with a rising cloud of murmurs, which seeped through the walls like smoke, and even up through the cracks from the floors below, where maids making the beds shrieked and tittered like morning birds. She also heard talking, rather more distinctly, in the corridor outside, and, aware in that vague, instinctual way which can exist without any real understanding, that something of great significance had occurred, she had tottered, yawning, over to her bedroom door, and listened to the voices of her nurse and a guard chattering away excitedly.

The baby had come. Mamma's baby had come in the night. A girl.

She was a sister. A big sister.

She was still rolling the word around her soft, infant palate, unsure how to approach it, when her nurse came in. What she had already deduced was explained to her in a series of rushed, enthusiastic bursts, as she was rapidly marched to her wash basin and cleaned up- Nurse got some soap in her eye, but she thought better of complaining when she felt the woman's hands trembling. Her hair was briskly brushed, then straight away she was led back to her bed, stripped of her night dress, kitted out in her best sky-blue frock, _and_ stockings, _and_ her new Sunday shoes, even though it was a Friday, _and_ a bow in her hair, before being marched all the way out of the bedroom.

Struggling to keep up with the adults in their frenzy, on her stumpy, nearly-three year-old legs and in her squeaky formal shoes, she found herself half-dragged along the corridor to the other end of the wing, where more guards, somehow much shinier than they normally seemed, stood to attention outside _Mamma And Pappa's Room_.

She had always thought of that place in capital letters, the kind of near-religious reverence that small children sometimes attach to the artefacts and attributes of their parents- _Pappa's Pipe_ , _Mamma's Wedding Dress-_ or those unseen actors of the adult world- _The Boss_ , _The Revenue_ , _Those Foreign Devils_ \- of which they hear their guardians speak in dread without explanation, and so elevate to the level of inscrutable natural forces. She could not remember ever having been inside- although, to be fair, she was just shy of three, and memory is unreliable at that age.

 _Am I three? Or am I just dreaming again?_ little Elsa pondered, as she waited for the doors in front of her eyes to be opened. The fresh white paint on the wood. The patterns of green and purple blossoms. Still so vivid and clear.

The question was quickly forgotten as she heard the click of the catch, and heavy silver handles turned, before the towering white doors swung away before her, and she was swept along into the centre of Mamma and Pappa's Room before she knew quite what was happening.

Then she was suddenly let alone. Abandoned by the sudden retreat of the indistinct adults who had herded her along, she stood at the exact centre of a huge and ornate carpet, which still covered only a section of the floor of what could have been a ballroom but for the fire and the furnishings. It wasn't just her own tiny size that made the room seem cavernous; the master bedroom of Arendelle Castle was far too big for one person- or indeed five people- which was one of several reasons she had never chosen to move into it as an adult. Too-large rooms have a melancholy all of their own, like deserts- or so she had heard from those who had actually visited such places.

Before her, however, beyond the carpet, a grand four poster bed proudly stood, carved from some ancient and dark wood, spread with silky sheets in the violet and lavender shades Mamma liked. And there _was_ Mamma, still sat up in bed in her night clothes! Elsa, brushed and tucked and tidied within an inch of her life, could have cried at the injustice. Pappa was at least dressed properly; he sat by the bed with a grin on his face like she had never seen before, beckoning to her. She toddled uncertainly towards her parents, her slight anxiety at the break in her usual morning routine now causing a light sprinkling of snow to follow in her wake. Then she started to notice the bundle of blankets Mamma was cradling in her arms, and by the time she reached the edge of the bed her pre-school mind had finally made the necessary connections to make sense of what was going on.

 _That's the baby. Mamma's baby is here._

 _That's my sister. I'm meeting my sister_.

Pappa reached down and scooped her up, planting a kiss on her cheek and sitting her on the edge of the bed. Then Mamma carefully arranged the bundle on her lap.

"Is it safe?"

"Oh, don't be silly, Aggie, she's fine. See?"

The bundle was warm and heavy. She could barely get her arms around it. In its centre, amid the layers of soft wrappings which cocooned it like cabbage leaves, was a tiny red face. _Sister._ Just inches from her own, that little face stirred and yawned in its sleep, eyes screwed shut as if she hadn't been ready to come out into the light just yet. Elsa yawned in sympathy.

The baby made soft little noises, grunts and squeaks, and the world retreated a little from where the two sisters sat, becoming quieter and somehow less important. Then puffy, newborn lids flickered open, and Elsa looked into bright little aquamarine eyes, which stared straight back up at her with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

"It's alright", she tried to reassure the little life in her arms. "I'm Elsa." In her soft infant mouth her own name sounded more like _Ewza_ \- a speech impediment she wouldn't shake off for another year or two. "I'm... your big sister."

She looked up at Mamma, who had reached out a hand to help her support the baby. "What's _she_ called?"

Mamma smiled her _Smile_ , warm as sunlight, soft as moonlight, the smile Elsa would never stop missing, not if she lived forever.

"Anna, darling. This is your baby sister _Anna_."

"Anna..." She murmured the name to herself a couple of times, still gazing down at those bold little eyes. Already so full of _spark_. Perhaps even then she had a sense that this girl was never going to do what she was told.

"Now, being a big sister is a lot of responsibility", Pappa intoned. "You need to take good care of Anna, do you understand?"

Little Elsa nodded, although this wasn't how it had really happened. "Yes Pappa."

He kissed her on the forehead. "That's my little snowflake. Because we aren't going to be around forever."

Elsa gulped. "I know, Pappa."

"You'll keep her safe once we're gone?"

Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she tried to maintain her composure.

"I promise, Pappa. I'll keep Anna safe..."

. .

* * *

. .

"Anna!"

Elsa awoke, blurting out her sister's name, filled with a mixture of anxiety and guilt she couldn't quite account for as the memory of the dream quickly melted away from her. As the disorientation of her sudden awakening passed, she registered an uncustomary warmth against her shoulder and one side of her face. Also, her hand seemed to be snagged on something.

She looked up, and realised that she was lying partly on top of her companion.

 _Oh, Janna_. What an odd dream.

 _Oh! Janna!_

She was uncomfortably conscious of two things: One, that she had woken up calling her sister's name, and could offer no explanation which wouldn't sound foolish, and two, that her hand had found its way up the princess' shirt during the night and now rested on the bare skin of her stomach. That would have been even harder to explain away, so she was immensely relieved when she saw that the Crow Lord was still sleeping.

She gingerly disentangled herself from her companion's clothing and smooth, toned flesh... _concentrate, Elsa._.. careful to avoid any motion that might be interpreted as a caress. Making improper advances towards unconscious people was another thing that should stay in story books. In fact, there had been an interesting scandal in her grandparents' generation when some minor prince had broken into an enchanted castle, filled with sleeping people, and kissed a beautiful young girl he found laid on a bed. She, a princess as it had turned out, had then immediately awoken, since apparently she and the entire population of the castle had been cursed by a powerful fairy to sleep until somebody kissed her. Which, bizarre as it was, accounted for why the kingdom's entire royal family had vanished a century before. The rest of the castle's slumbering denizens had accordingly woken as well, from the king on his throne to the maid in the cowshed, all none the worse for their ordeal. The old king had questioned the young prince, then had him beheaded for mishandling his daughter. Next, the king had gathered his now-conscious army, set out, and, catching everyone quite by surprise, annihilated the prince's own family to a man, burning their new capital to the ground in the interests of restoring his own former kingdom. None of which would have happened if the unlucky young man had just understood _boundaries_.

Kneeling beside her, she looked down at the sleeping princess for a moment. She realised that she should be scared. Obsessing over the mess this wild-haired creature could make of all her well-laid plans. Agonising over the diplomatic consequences. Fretting over the prospect of war in the north. Pulling her hair out over what Anna might be up to. Had she dreamt about Anna? Perhaps she wasn't giving her sister enough credit for being able to take care of herself, but then the uplands of Myrtle were no picnic, and it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that she might do something especially impulsive, given how they had parted. Maybe guilt played a greater part than reason in her anxieties.

But the strange thing was, now the upset of the dream had faded, all these concerns seemed oddly distant. Real, but... it was as if her fears had their place, and, for the moment, they were staying there, allowing her to put them towards the back of her mind and enjoy the simple pleasure of watching someone she... cared about. She gently wound a ragged lock of her suitor's black hair around her fingers. _So soft- but did she cut it with a blunt knife?_ Elsa had felt this way in the weeks following the thaw- impossibly light, as if her fear had temporarily burnt itself out. Embracing her new life, her new family, without hesitation. Was this how other people felt the whole time? Normal people, who weren't woven out of raw nerves like she seemed to be? That must be wonderful- to know such serenity day by day. Still, she would make the most of it while it lasted.

Getting up, before she forgot proper boundaries any further, the Queen stepped out of the pavilion she had made the night before. Well, it was actually _still_ night, since sinister, unending darkness seemed to be a permanent fixture of this bizarre place, but oh well. This must be the 'real Myrtle' Jani had promised to show her. There had certainly been adventure.

She was unable to get to the water pool she had made without moving more than twelve feet from the princess' sleeping form, which had proven to be the distance at which the shadows started talking to her again, so she created a new one and set about freshening herself up. She felt rather vulnerable, washing alone, and kept a careful watch on the darkness around in case some other horrible thing decided to make a meal of them.

She would probably swallow her pride and scream for Janna if it did- she seemed fairly immune to the spirits of these woods. A horrifying, collosal, spectral spider the size of a cow had charged them yesterday. _Could a ghost spider actually eat people?_ Regardless, Janna had pushed her back, waved a hand, and something all but invisible had passed into the monster. It had burst into a million tiny ghost spiders, which had run off in every direction _except_ towards Janna.

She moved on to washing her body, as best she could with only ice water. That meant dissolving her dress, so she kept an ear pricked and alert in case her companion awoke suddenly and saw her... well.

Not that she wasn't wearing underclothes- she had _standards_ , even in the mountains with no proper tea service and evil whispers all around. But that was hardly the point. Besides, her underclothes, as Jani had seen before she'd snatched her sketchbook back the other day, were _terribly_ attractive, and it wouldn't be fair to torment her noble suitor so. She had found it necessary to wear something under her ice dresses, or else the crystals caused chafing in unmentionable places, so, she had thought, why not design something nice?

 _I should design something for Janna... day wear, I mean..._ she pondered, feeling a tingling run through her as she contemplated the possibilities. She would stick with a piratical theme, obviously, but what about... no, she'd never wear _that_. Such a tomboy. But a new coat, surely... a more flattering cut... a waistcoat that brought out the colour of her impossible eyes...

It was a shame Janna hadn't brought the sketchbook _with_ her. Of course, if she had it might have ended up crushed under a dead horse, which is apparently what had happened to Janna's adorable little lute. She had looked especially crestfallen when recounting that part of her journey to find her in the forest. Small instrument... fine quality... perhaps it had been a gift from one of her parents? A reminder of home... oh, poor darling...

Sounds of stirring behind her startled her back into the present, and she hurriedly reconstituted her clothes before Janna could emerge.

The princess shuffled out of the pavilion, smiling weakly, coat pulled tight around her body.

"Morning."

She grunted a reply, seeming to avoid her gaze. There was something different about the northerner. A more marked _uncertainty_ around her, for one, which was odd- last night had worked out pretty well, after all. So why did... _wait_.

Elsa reached out and cupped the princess' face in her hands, examining it closely- she flinched slightly. Telling. Perhaps it was down to the peculiar clarity Elsa felt that morning, but, looking over her companion, she found herself noticing familiar things... something in the expression, ways one might hold oneself... things from, well, _before_.

Realisation blossomed in Elsa's mind. _Of course_.

But what to do? How to deal with this? If she'd had time to prepare... her calm started to crumble, mere minutes into the day.

 _No,_ she told herself, _you knew whom you were offering your favour.._.

She couldn't deny this might take some getting used to, but she was determined to show a better side of herself this time around. Anyhow, if she judged her suitor for what trouble their magic might cause, there was little hope for _either_ of them.

And he did look adorably nervous.

 _I can handle this. My hands are shaking, but I can handle this.  
_

Elsa smiled warmly. "Good morning, Jani."

The Myrtlean's jaw dropped. Clearly that had caught him by surprise. She planted a kiss on his cheek; he jumped a little, which delighted her. She rarely got to be the perceptive one.

"You know, it's not actually morning", he murmured.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Yes, I thought it was about time.

I'm aware that Elsa's birthday is supposed to be in winter, and Anna's in summer. I had to ignore this however since it made no sense. If Elsa was born in winter, why wait to have the coronation in midsummer? Does she come of age at 21-and-a-half? If Anna was born in summer, why are unprotected snowgies bouncin garound in the sun on her birthday without melting? For the sake of my own fussy mind, in this fic Elsa was born in late spring, and Anna in early spring. This does mean that the events of Frozen Fever occur _after_ the events of Olaf's Frozen Adventure.


	36. Chapter 36- Jani, Part 2

CHAPTER 36- Jani, Part 2

* * *

. .

Elsa watched Jani fix himself up. Well, she was trying not to watch _too_ hard- he was currently cross-legged in front of the washing pool she had made, his back to her and his coat slung over his head like a kind of cloak-come-tent. His shirt and leather jerkin were in a pile beside him, and he was moving around a bit, so she didn't really feel right getting closer in case the coat slipped down and she saw rather more of him than decency allowed, and, more to the point, rather more than he was clearly comfortable with her seeing right now. Although she wasn't sure she understood this change in his attitude- surely his... softer areas were no longer a secret? At least in the present company of her and that one big raven who always seemed to be nearby. Watching _her_ , mostly. Peculiar.

A white flash of a hand reached out from under the coat and grabbed the tattered shirt. _Sigh..._ he needed new clothes. The waistcoat followed, and then Jani stood, shrugging off the coat and stretching his arms over his head, wincing a little.

Turning, he smiled as they made eye contact. It was a slightly brittle smile, as if he still wasn't sure what she thought of the whole business. Afraid, but hiding it. She was gradually getting better at reading him.

The softer areas were gone, now. Tucked away. Should she have noticed that?

"They'll be back, don't worry yourself."

How did...? Elsa realised that her hand had risen unconsciously to her own bust. Blushing, she lowered it. Clearly there was no great art to reading _her._

"So you just... tie them down?"

Jani shrugged. "Clearly."

"Doesn't that get awfully... sore?"

"It's worse otherwise." He made an expansive gesture which took in basically his entire body. "I don't like to... see myself, when I'm a guy. Or for other people to... see it. It's hard to explain."

He grimaced slightly. "Can we change the subject now?"

He wetted his hair and set about rearranging it. Elsa wasn't sure how one mass of tangles was supposed to be different from another; Jani- or Janna's- hair was a kind of attractive chaos, like some black-leaved bush growing wild, with branches at odd angles. It was... strangely beautiful, but one would not expect it to have been planned in any way. If it were left to grow long it would probably be worse than Anna's.

Strange how easy it was becoming, the 'he's and 'him's. How, as she got more used to her magical, changeable suitor, the words just sort of... fit. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

He was finishing cleansing the make-up from his eyes when Elsa chose to break the silence.

"It's the magic. Isn't it?"

Jani looked up. "Sorry?"

Elsa gulped. "I mean... the older Ulda... Mari?... she kept calling you her son... so..." Her tongue seemed to be failing her again.

The crow lord sighed, scratching his tousled head. "Honestly? I'm not sure."

He stood again. "How are you feeling now? You look... good."

A deflection? Choosing not to press the issue, Elsa smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Why, _thank you_ , your Highness. Actually, I feel better than I have in some time."

Pulling his coat on, Jani stepped back into the pavilion, and retrieved his bag. "Well enough to breakfast as we walk?"

"I think so..." she called through the door.

"Excellent." Jani emerged, rummaging away. "Another couple of hours and we'll be out of the woods. A few more and we'll see your sister again." Elsa gave a sigh of relief; Jani winked. "I'm not sure why you'd be worried- for such a sweet girl, she's pretty formidable. "

Then he seemed to hesitate. "Elsa..."

He lowered the bag. "Are you _really_ okay with this?"

His face was... what she saw in his eyes she could find no word for, in any of the several languages she had mastered... but it made her want to cry a little.

Elsa tutted. An unacceptable situation, but one she could remedy. She approached him, and, pressing a hand against the gentle curve of his back, the other against his cheek, pulled him, commandingly but not so roughly as to be forceful, into another kiss- the way she had first kissed him, all those days before. She held it a few seconds, savouring the sensation. His lips still... burned, dizzying, like kissing the lightning. His cheek was still so soft against her fingers, and it made perfect sense now, just like the scent of forest flowers which still rose from that perfect skin as she felt his chest heave, and his pulse quicken.

And yes, as she kissed him she still heard a part of herself saying _Stop, Elsa! What are you doing? Everyone will know! This could break everything!_ And yes, the fear was stirring in her heart, power pulsing into her limbs until they ached with contained potential which threatened to burst forth like an explosion. But the voice was, perhaps, just a little quieter than last time. She could master this. And he was sweet on her lips, far sweeter than any prince.

Drawing back a little, and resisting the urge to purr like a contented cat, she shook her head in mock exasperation. "Didn't occur to you that I had factored in all this, when deciding whether to court you?"

"Yeah, but..." Jani seemed to be having trouble believing it. _He still remembers what I said_ , Elsa thought, sadly, cold shame trickling into her mind to spoil the warmth of her mood.

"Don't you see?" Elsa let her fingers slide tenderly down his cheek, brushing against his lower lip with her thumbnail. "This is the face I first... the first face I... ever _really_ wanted to kiss. As an adult, at least." She felt herself grinning foolishly. Anna would have teased her if she'd been there to see it. "My _boy_ is back. How could I not be happy?"

Jani looked uncertain. "I never went anywhere. It's always me."

Elsa nodded. "I know, you kept trying to explain to the others, and they never seemed to get it."

"You were listening to all that? I thought you were furious."

"Of course I was." _Or... hurt, perhaps. Confused. Guilty. Humiliated. Self pitying... I made such a fool of myself._ She shrugged, and forced a smile. "I still eavesdrop on other people's conversations. A lifetime habit- it comes of spending your childhood listening through your bedroom door. I can't seem to break it."

She then took his hand in both of hers- that one the hind woman's claws had marked. She drew her fingertips slowly, slowly along the thin, pink scars.

"You're very... ah... good with your hands..." Jani whimpered, if whimpering can sound happy.

"Put it down to the sketching. I also write a _lot_ of letters." Elsa planted a kiss on Jani's knuckles. Her smile was genuine, now. " _This_ is the hand of the person who saved me. Who came and found me. It's _you_. Whatever your name, whatever you call yourself, however you dress. And I'm..." Tears started to well in her eyes. "I'm sorry for when I've ever made you feel ashamed."

Jani looked at his hand, and then at Elsa.

"You know, _kultani_ , if... oh, I'll take it."

Then he swore under his breath, and kissed her back.

It was glorious but brief- a second's contact of the lips; fortunate, since the moment his mouth touched hers her heart shook like it was about to break free of its moorings. As he released her she staggered backward a couple of steps, dizzied by the rush of power and by a strange mixture of pleasure and panic.

Looking down, she watched patterns of frost spread over her hands, coating them like fine crystalline gloves. Jani looked at her in alarm; regaining some presence of mind but still tongue-tied, she shook her head to indicate that there was nothing to worry about, and focused hard.

Controlling her ice had proven, fittingly, to depend on 'warm' feelings. She could think of her sister, her old friends and advisors, her home, anything that let her draw upon the glow of love within her and reverse the flow of her enchantment. But on this occasion...

She focused on him.

Oh, there was a such an unhappy look in Jani's eyes, like he'd broken the whole world. It struck her, not for the first time, that this... jumble of a person could go from being a joker, to a terror on the battlefield, to a lost little boy over the course of a minute. What was it Anna had said? A puppy that thinks itself a wolf?

 _He feels terrible- he thinks this is his fault..._ Her heart melted to see him so adorably bewildered, as it did, so did the frost on her hands; indeed, such was the rush of warmth from within her that she felt fortunate it didn't take her dress along with it.

Come to think of it, that might have cheered him up... _Now, Elsa, don't be vulgar. Jani does quite enough of that for the two of us..._

"It's alright, it's alright!" she insisted, raising her hands to show that their warmth had returned. "It's just... I guess you maybe startled me a bit?"

"Sorry", he mumbled, still crestfallen. _I always find some way to ruin things..._ Elsa wrapped her arms around Jani and gave him a squeeze.

"I _said_ , it's alright", she whispered into, well, his neck, since she was still barefoot. "I guess I'm not used to... that kind of contact, is all."

"You kissed _me_. A couple of times."

Elsa considered. "It's odd, I know. Maybe kissing, and being kissed, are different? I couldn't say, this is all so brand new..." She set her jaw determinedly. "It will pass."

Jani sighed. "Aye, good thing we already decided to go slow, then."

Crouching down over his bag, he pulled out a slightly wrinkled apple and placed it in Elsa's hand with a flourish of ceremony. Breakfast.

He winked at her, clearly feeling better about the situation. Or else putting on a good act. "We should meet up with the others today, and then it's over the mountains to Arendelle. Shall we get moving?"

Elsa smiled and, hand in hand, they did.

 _No, not just desire,_ she considered. _Desire could never melt a frozen heart._ Yet the alternative... no, that was too much to think about just yet. Baby steps, even if some foolish part of her wanted to go galloping off ahead.

She and Anna would have a _lot_ to catch each other up on...

. .

* * *

. .

What precisely happened at Larkspur on that strange, strange day was a source of some disagreement, even as soon as the early evening- such are the unreliable memories of fishermen when, following some momentous event, normally involving catching something big, the liquor has been flowing since noon and every man, or woman, crowded into the tiny tavern under the eyeless gaze of the mermaid's head has told and retold their own version of the fish tale, bigger and better each time.

Manner Junior, being, while not quite dry as a bone, certainly more sober than most as he awaited news from his father up at the old fox castle, listened to his fellow villagers with a critical ear. The catch this time was not, of course, edible, but a ship. He had stayed out of sight when the military had brought the trading vessel into dock and begun to order the villagers around, badgering and threatening them into helping to unload its cargo, finding a vantage point from which he could discreetly watch the course of events.

Most versions of the tale broadly agreed with his recollection up to that point. Those who had gone down into the cargo hold gave accounts of what they found within ranging from 'nothing' to 'shitting hell demons!', in accordance with their varying degrees of imagination and/or alcoholism, but never mind. Certainly, much of the cargo- blocks of ice, bizarrely- had already been stacked up on deck, and some moved to shore, by the time the mayor arrived and began to argue with the commander of the ship.

Now, the mayor knew how to argue, and it had not been long before the altercation deteriorated into threats. The commander, flanked by a couple of his men, had held the point of a sword to the mayor's throat and insisted that, in fact, the villagers of Larkspur _would_ unload all the ice from the ship, they _wouldn't_ ask any more questions, and they _would_ stop heckling him and his crew- at least one old lady had thrown rotten fruit at the sailors.

Manner Senior had always said that you can give a Myrtleman an order he can respect, or with a threat you can back up- but cringing and slaving is for outlanders. Manner Junior took that to mean that Myrtleans were never too slow to start a bar brawl or a riot. None of the people of Larkspur had any love for taking orders _or_ for the new regime, but they didn't fancy dying either, so at that moment every eye in the village was watching that sword tickle the skin on the old mayor's chin, weighing up whether this was a fight they could afford.

The mermaid's head grinned down from its position over the bar, pearly teeth glistening in the candlelight, as if sharing Manner's sense of wry amusement. This was the point at which accounts of the incident started to diverge. At this point in the evening, a frontrunner had emerged among all the various versions of events, perhaps popular enough to become official village history by the morning. It was an inspiring tale to be sure.

According to that account, the commander's increasingly desperate threats had been interrupted by a loud noise from the ship itself. Then, with a roar of righteous fury, a great spirit reindeer had leaped from the hold, kicking the stack of ice blocks still piled up on the main deck and sending them flying over the guard rail, down onto the commander, striking his back with a noise something like a crab being stamped on. For a moment it had stood there, shining like starlight as it scanned the horizon, a trio of attendant spirits perched upon its back and mighty antlers. Then, with sublime speed, it had galloped off the ship, through the crowd, and off into the wetlands of the bay, disappearing from sight before anyone could think or react.

The village had, as one man, glanced at the deer image in their village square, glanced at the crushed remains of the hapless commander, leaking slightly from under a pile of what was now fairly pinkish ice, noted, with glee, the fear in the eyes of his remaining crew, and rushed them. Most of them had no swords, but fists, hammers, and knives served them pretty well. Another thing his father had said to him- _all_ Myrtleans are dangerous. The sailors should have remembered that.

So, now they had a ship. That was real enough, and made the other events easier to accept. That said... Manner Junior was but one man, a simple ferryman, and not one to contradict so many others. _But_ , he thought, as he chuckled quietly into his tankard... He had stood at some distance, yet had the Great Reindeer's leap from the hold not been more of a... _skid,_ into some cargo which _had_ been stacked rather precariously? And the star shining upon his chest... well, it had looked a lot like a medal, to him. Those spirits with him, though- Mother of _God_...

The discussion in the bar had turned to whether they were rebels now. The villagers were rather divided on that. No one really liked the usurper, whatever he was called, and most had some affection for the slain king, or at least the Marttila line. But the argument was put forward by some that, being just a small village, out on the edge of things, they should keep things quiet and just hope that no one came looking for their new ship.

And then, too, they had all heard the rumours from the city. The crows had declared a Lord, screaming it out from rooftop to rooftop. There had been riots there, as well. Soldiers killed. Perhaps they were not alone. Perhaps the land willed it.

He had stepped outside for a piss earlier. The village's deer figure had flowers around it. Flowers.

Bollocks to flowers.

He had also seen hordes of crows feasting on the bodies. There had been a lot around, over the last couple of days, following in the wake of their Lady Lord. She fed them well, he supposed. Those who didn't know about the princess were calling it a portent.

Manner sipped his beer. He didn't know, if he was honest. _Was_ it for the likes of them to care about the rise and fall of kings, what with real life, all the fishing and ferrying there was to be done? Ha. But, then he was reminded of the day his daughter's body was returned to him, by a young girl in a battered coat, whose eyes burnt with the dark light of the wild. Who had waited, patiently, as he had wept broken tears over his child, until he had exhausted himself, and then, without a word of judgement at his display, offered him a gift.

Opening up the little leather pouch he wore around his neck, he emptied the contents onto the table and stared at them half-drunkenly. A small ring of pewter- his daughter's, simple and lovely. A ring of fine gold and emeralds which had belonged to _that_ one, who was anything _but_ lovely. And a handful of little, dry, dead flowers, which rustled like tiny bells as he brushed them with a fingertip. Perhaps, if he held fealty to anyone, it was to the woman who had brought him some small peace, and some small justice, all those years ago.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

He's not the Messiah, he's a moderately naughty reindeer.


	37. Chapter 37- Black and Blue

CHAPTER 37- Black and Blue

* * *

. .

Jani stared at the soft charcoal soil of the forest floor a foot from his face, trying to clear the buzzing from his brain. Pushing himself back onto his knees, he brushed away the pine needles and damp splinters which had stuck uncomfortably to his palms.

 _I can hold on._

The fading bruises on his wrists itched. Not even hurt. Itched. The flesh under his bindings was crawling with invisible ants. The cuts on his hand throbbed, even as the burning magic sped their healing.

Something touched his fingers, and he jerked them away with a startled expletive. Elsa gasped. She had tried to take his hand. _Shit._

In his head, wrist bones crunched like walnuts. She _mustn't_ take his hand. It wasn't safe for her.

"Jani, you're crying."

He raised a hand to his face and found wetness.

Elsa stepped in front of him. "Talk to me."

Jani folded his arms, tucking them safely away. "Elsa, I... we need to get out of here."

"Take a moment- I'm worried about you."

Jani snarled. " _Vittu tätä paskaa!_ We are ten minutes from the forest edge, and I'm losing my sodding mind. We keep going."

Elsa looked displeased. She had no idea how her angry schoolmistress face buoyed his mood, under any other circumstances. He would tell her eventually- it was a sure way to see more of it.

He stood up with as much dignity as he could, not taking the Queen's proffered hand. In his head, fingers snapped... He hoped she would let it pass without comment.

"Why won't you touch me?"

 _Shit. This'll be awkward._

"A couple of hours ago you were... _fine_ \- now you won't even _touch_ me." Her tone weakened on the final phrase. Perhaps she hadn't meant to say it in so many words.

He _had_ been better earlier... if only he could have hidden it another hour. Jani shook his head, focusing his gaze on his own toes. "It's nothing you've done. But I have very wicked hands, Elsa- I don't trust them right now."

"You aren't looking at me."

"Sorry, I know. I also have wicked eyes. I don't trust them either. This place makes my power too... loud? Yes, loud..." Jani grimaced. "I'd never choose to hurt you, _kultani_. But it's not always a choice for the likes of us, is it now?"

 _Because I've a bitter seed inside of me, Elsa, turning my heart black. Twisting death into my fingers. Don't you know your dog bites?_

Troubled, Elsa seemed to take a moment to process all this.

"So that's what you're feeling? The... violence?"

Jani looked at her then, and pointed a thumb at his eyes. They hissed and flared as tears began to well in them again. "I feel like the Bluebeard. I feel like I'm falling. Just let me get out of here, _please_."

She held out her hand again. "Trust me. It helps."

There was no arguing with Queens...

On her head be it. He braced himself, and carefully placed his fingers into her own. At once he felt... wait... she had been _right_. Her touch was... calming somehow. Ever so slightly, he felt his anger fade. Ever so slightly.

 _Now to get out of here._

. .

* * *

. .

When he sensed the forest's edge, Jani forgot all caution and burst into run, scrambling like a child towards a word which had sky and colour in it. Elsa cried out in alarm and, still clutching his hand, stumbled after him.

Eventually the curtain of pine trunks parted, and he staggered out from under the weight of the forest's influence onto a stony hillside patched with dwarf willows and pale alpine flowers, under a deep purple sky sparsely specked with stars. He had quite forgotten it was summer...

Lying flat on his back, not caring how he looked, arms and legs spread out over the spiky grass and contorted rock as if they were the finest of mattresses, he breathed in, and out, and in, feeling the darkness he had gathered dissipate, and the black and blue regain coherence and fall back in line with his will. Hot eyelids cooled in the chilly mountain breeze, as the fire slowly faded...

Then a foot nudged him, probably a bit harder than was necessary. He looked up to see Elsa looking down at him with her arms folded in a way which suggested trouble. It was alright, though. She would be safe now.

"I'm sorry", he murmured, grinning dreamily, "but look." He pointed to the swelling conflagration of red and orange cloud to the south-east, which was steadily brightening as it chased the dim stars away. "Told you it wasn't morning yet."

"It will be presently", she stated simply. "Take ten minutes, but then we carry on."

. .

* * *

. .

"Are you Niklas Sea Crow?" Elsa asked, quite out of the blue, as they were working their way down some rocks.

"What? Hell no." Jani frowned. He could see the top of the fox castle in the distance, through the grey-green veil of morning mist and sparse mountain willows.

He was impatient to reach the others, but at the same time... None of it seemed real yet. So far, their accord, their 'suit', was something Elsa had offered in secret, and could take back as easily. What would happen next? Would they sit Anna down and say yes, she had been right? Elsa cared for Jani? More-than-desired him? Or, before the eyes of others, would the Queen have second thoughts? Maybe he didn't dare hope for the best.

"So what do you _mean_ when you talk about all these people?" Elsa shook her head in exasperation, her little nose wrinkling in a way which Jani found far too charming for words. "And what about everything the Ulda said?"

"Okay, see this?" Jani let his eyes spark up, and pointed to them. " _This_ is Niklas Sea Crow. And the Angel, Niklas Enkeli. _And_ the Exile, and the Monk, and... the Bluebeard, and my grandfather to boot. Possibly there are others, but probably not. This is the black-and-blue. Niklas was _mortal_. His magic _wasn't_. That part of him comes back. The immortal half. And it carries us along with it."

"What does that... even mean?"

"That all the vitality and knowledge and skill of the others rests in my blood. I burn with other people's lives. And someday I'll die too, and my half a soul with join the others within the next Crow Lord."

Elsa looked pained. "Half a soul?"

Jani shrugged. "Well, what else is it? I was probably eleven when Grandfather died, then next year I came into my power and then I _was_ him, somehow, and also all the others- the heroes, the madmen, the monsters. But still me. So am I half a person, or two, or seven...?"

Elsa took his hand again, stirring shivers along the length of his spine which weren't entirely down to her anxiety, although he could feel her magic fizzing away, and her fingers were icy cold. In the soft morning light, her hair was pure gold.

 _You entrance me_ , she had said. Had she meant to say 'enchant'? Mayhaps- _enchant_ was pretty standard romantic pap. But he preferred _entrance_. It made it sound like mesmerism, some strange selective madness that required this one person just to look at you to make you say and do things you wouldn't with anyone else. It described his current state pretty damn well.

"Is that why you fight so well?"

 _The politic shift from a difficult subject. Very Elsa. Very me, at that._ "Well, yeah, mostly- I have four hundred years of everything from bar brawls to international wars to call on. I don't have their _memories_ as such. The odd weird dream. But the knowledge is enough trouble. People don't realise how what they learn changes them."

"Wicked hands?"

Jani shuddered. "That, and more, _kultani_. You'll have noticed I walk like a guy, even when I'm Janna? Twenty-one years of being me versus centuries of muscle memory. I'm fighting _habit_. Maybe we all walk like Niklas did. I wonder if Mari could tell me?"

Elsa squeezed his hand. A black heart jumped like a frog. "I _like_ how you walk. Like a cat on the prowl. Agile, confident, just a _touch_ of swagger..."

Jani blushed a little, and found himself watching his feet very closely. "It's okay right _now_. But as Janna, I'd rather walk like you. You have this kind of... _sashay_ that I've never been able to manage. Your hips sway back and forth _just right_ , and it's..."

"Regal?" Her tone developed a fine layer of ice.

"Um, sure, if you like." _I'd have said 'perky', but whatever..._ He decided to steer the conversation away from giving away how much Elsa's unarguably regal... walk... had been weighing on his thoughts, in a good way. She was fun to gently prod, but he didn't want to piss her off too often in one day. "Still, having the life force of several people means I heal a lot faster, and I don't really get tired. Not from exercise, at least- I still sleep a bit."

Apricot was over the castle. No signs of violence, and the party were present. And... now he had found Wash. The younger raven confirmed that he and Edvin were fine, and had not moved an inch. So far, all good.

"No fatigue? I wouldn't mind that power."

"It's amazingly useless in a palace- although I once passed a dull morning seeing how many push-ups I could do. Got bored after two thousand. Helpful in a battle, though. Most people start to slow down after the first few minutes of combat. Not me."

"You're _incredibly_ fast, actually."

"That's a power Niklas had. Being, you know, part tree, he was very tough _and_ had super speed."

Elsa's face went through various endearing contortions as her brain tried to make sense of that statement.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused."

Jani smiled. "Look, you saw Mari and the other Ulda, right? Moving around, walking, talking?"

"...yes?"

"Well, to a _tree_ , that's super speed."

 _I am such an arsehole..._

She gave him the dirtiest look he had ever seen. She had such vibrant, expressive eyes... Maybe it was nature's way of compensating for her not being able to swear like normal folk.

"I _think_ I'm glad your sense of humour is back."

Jani laughed. "And he could talk to the crows, of course. And there are... other abilities which are harder to explain on the hoof."

"It's strange that your father never mentioned any of this in his letters. Is it some-"

The look on Jani's face must have been something, because Elsa immediately gasped and burbled an apology. He put a finger on her lips to silence her- she didn't burble well, it was more her sister's talent.

Never mind- Father and Mother had to come up eventually, he supposed.

Slipping out of his coat, he rolled up his shirt sleeve to the bicep. He took hold of one of Elsa's slender fingers and ran it along the raised, x-shaped scar in the hollow of his elbow.

"Feel that? 'X' marks the spot."

"Well, yes?"

He dropped her hand and rolled his sleeve down. "It's from the third or fourth time they tried to cure me."

. .

* * *

. .

"And this will definitely work?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Elsa asked, as she put the finishing touches on the ice sled. She had worked snowflake carvings into the body, which seemed like showing off, but Jani didn't criticise. He had a weakness for watching her create.

"Well, how are we going to stop?"

Elsa stood up and rubbed her hands together. "Snow. It'll be like riding into a stack of pillows."

She pointed to the newly minted vehicle commandingly. "Jani, I can't walk any further. Get in the sled."

"Yes miss." Jani took a seat. Was she getting bossier? Not that he minded one bit.

He was sure sleds were supposed to have metal runners. Friction or something. Maybe he was wrong.

The castle was directly below them, and, after the patchy, rocky woodland they had emerged into from the high forest, the remaining distance was consistently downhill and relatively clear, although they'd have to dodge at least a couple of trees. It would save time, and Elsa was exhausted.

It made sense.

In theory.

Elsa lowered herself onto the seat rather heavily, fatigue showing through in spite of her natural grace. Drained, but alive. _It could have been so much worse..._ In his mind's eye, the hind died for the hundredth time.

He turned to the woman whose warm leg was now pressing snugly against his own."You've done this before, right?"

She raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. "Are you nervous? After all we've been through already?"

He looked down the hill. Could the others see them by now? "A little. I've only just found you and I don't want you smashed. How about you?"

Elsa considered. "Terrified. But... well, if I let that stop me, then eventually I won't do anything."

Jani smiled sympathetically. "It's always a bit nerve-wracking, doing something completely new."

Elsa kissed him softly on the cheek. "Hold on tight."

He did.

"I meant to the sled."

"Ah, sorry."

As the Queen extended her hand, magic skittered down the grassy slope, weaving together a smooth track of gleaming, glassy ice. The sled slowly tipped forward...

And then the landscape on either side of them was reduced to a roaring grey-green blur as they careened downhill at an impossible speed. He hadn't anticipated that they'd accelerate like this. Was _she_ doing it? Was she doing it _deliberately_ , or was her anxiety over Anna leaking out? Rocks flashed past. Branches whipped about within inches of their heads. Jani wanted to look over to check on Elsa, but found he couldn't do anything except hold on to the sled's rails until his fingers turned white and struggle to breathe the air which was hammering him in the face like an ocean gale.

He could barely keep his eyelids open. _J_ _umalauta..._ The thought of what would happen if they crashed was cycling round and round in his head, as was the thought that, if _he_ was too scared to move, what the hell was going through Elsa's head?

It was probably the loss of control that really gave him the willies. A fight could be managed. He knew what _flying_ fast was like- it was serene, managed, like running or swimming only with wings. This was just falling at an angle.

 _Remember the snow... remember the snow... like a stack of pillows..._

As if on command, he was suddenly plunged into a world of icy cold, soft wetness which forced the remaining air out of his lungs with an _eep_ which he would have found embarrassing were he aware of anything except the shock of raw sensation. After a few moments his brain adjusted. He had not been flung into the frozen depths of space. He was sitting in a sled made of ice, which had come very suddenly to a stop. His clothes were damp with slush, and the snowdrift they had ploughed into was very slowly evaporating.

Elsa was trembling. She held out her hand, eyes shut. "Please..." she whispered.

Jani took her hand, managing not to gasp at how cold it was- like being gripped by an icicle. But the Queen breathed slowly in, and out a few times, and her hand began to warm up. He guessed she had found the ride a bit of a shock as well.

Once Elsa had recovered, they climbed from the sled; they were close to the castle, and Gerda was bustling up to meet them from the tents and campfires, along with a few other party members.

"You're okay! Where's the dragon?"

Jani jumped, and turned around to find Olaf in the seat he had vacated. He hadn't seen him approach. Weird.

Elsa seemed to be thrown off by the question. "I'm... not sure. Where is Anna?"

"Hang on", Jani interjected. "You don't _know_ where the dragon is?"

Elsa waved him away dismissively. "It flew away into the mountains. Olaf, Gerda, where is Anna?"

Gerda shrank a little, and looked at her feet, uncharacteristically silent. She didn't have to say anything- Jani had read the whole story in her face as Elsa asked, and his heart had sunk.

 _She went looking for us. We were gone too long._

Then the bloody excuses started, from half a dozen angles.

"We tried to dissuade her..."

"We warned her, but..."

"Did your paths not cross?"

"Enough!" Elsa pointed to a party member Jani didn't know, possibly at random. "Ready my horse. And one other for the- for the Crow Lord. And somebody find us food. We'll ride in one hour."

"You're going back up there?!" exclaimed Gerda.

"Elsa", Jani murmured in her ear. " _I_ can find Anna. You're hungry, tired and drained."

"No". Elsa steeled her jaw. "I come."

It was more pronouncement than mere argument- Jani could have sworn the air shivered.

He nodded, understanding. "Yes, miss."

 _I'd have known if she'd entered the high forest and been consumed... but the mountains are all forest of some kind, and most of it deadly in some more conventional way... I was really hoping Elsa would be wrong._

He went to find the Myrtleans he had left with Anna, with _particular_ instructions not to let shit like this happen. _Someone_ was due a bollocking, and no mistake.

. .

* * *

. .

A knotted bundle struggled in the shady depths of a wood, a thousand tangling threads binding it to the lower branches of the great white oak in which it hung suspended, like a cat's cradle, spread across the fingers of a vast, skeletal hand.

Anna carefully approached the bundle, ducking from trunk to trunk, shadow to shadow, hoping to stay undetected by that creepy thing that had caught Roar. At least they hadn't been hard to follow- inside his cocoon, the big Myrtleman was still spitting out curses and oaths with every breath, although they were now too muffled to understand. Just as well- Myrtle seemed to have swear words no one else had invented yet.

She finally reached the tree. A squeal of alarm blurted from her pack, her new passenger protesting as she carefully slipped the bag off and onto the ground. _Shush! Shush! No!_

But there were no other noises, and she couldn't see the monster, so she clambered up onto the lowermost branch of the oak. She could have sworn the old tree muttered as she did so. Was everything in this dumb country cursed or haunted? Drawing her sword, she hacked at the faintly luminous strands connecting her companion to the boughs.

Her sword passed through the threads as if they weren't there. Or, as if the sword wasn't there. It was a matter of how you looked at it.

An overpowering wail, like a furious baby, cut through the air.

 _Oh, sugar. Not good_.

Suddenly it was in front of her, translucent yet casting no shadow, raising a skeletal hand up to snatch her from her perch. A face of ragged patchwork stretched over a screaming, open-jawed skull. Fingers bound in filthy yarn gripped her by the collar...

 _Well, this day just keeps getting better and better..._

. .

* * *

. .

 **NOTES**

Damn it, Anna... stay in one place, will you?

Sorry it's been so long. Busy month.

Thanks again to everyone who has posted reviews. Your kind words of encouragement are much appreciated.

 _Jumalauta_ means 'God help me', but is mildly offensive like _God damn it!_ Where not translated, it is normally best to assume that any Finnish Jani speaks is unprintably obscene. What Finnish interjections lack in gutturality they make up for in imagination.


	38. Chapter 38- Rag Doll, Part 1

CHAPTER 38- Rag Doll, Part 1

* * *

. .

"Hold up!"

Elsa pulled hard on Linnea's reins, bringing the snowy mare to a slightly indignant halt. She had overtaken Jani some distance before she had been able to drag herself back into the present and away from thoughts of Anna, and so she had to trot back through the grove of mingled oak and aspen to where the young Crow Lord had dismounted and was picking about in the undergrowth.

Jani was scrabbling about on all fours, examining the dents and scrapes left on the ground by the riders whose trail the had found. Or rather, Jani had found- she was hardly a woodsman.

"What have you found?" she asked anxiously, riding up to him. He glanced up, then waved something small and yellowish white above his head. She snatched it from his fingers and examined it carefully in the dappled light of the wood. A tiny piece of waxed paper.

. .

 _Anna tore open the paper package and took a bite of the oaty biscuit-type thing Gerda had packed for her lunch. Roar dismounted and joined her under the tree, accepting another of the pastries. They weren't that interesting- probably amazing with sour cream and berries, but she only had water. Whatever, they were fuel._

" _I don't know if they came this way", the big Myrtleman grumbled. "We should be further south, into the mountains." Anna would rather have been searching with someone she knew better, but the only real fighter from Arendelle was wounded, and Roar had basically followed her from camp. He hadn't stopped moaning about what a bad idea it was, though._

" _I don't know", Anna shook her head, spitting crumbs as she spoke. "We'll try to steer south, but we need to cover a lot of ground. Elsa gets around, but she's never that hard to find."_

 _She was trying to stay polite just so he wouldn't lose patience and carry her back to the ruined castle tied over a saddle. He grunted and shrugged his big, sloped shoulders. Something about his long-suffering demeanour brought Kristoff to mind. Feeling her eyes moisten, she shook off the thought, and stood up again..._

. .

Elsa smiled, for the first time since reaching the castle. "Anna!"

Jani grinned warmly, and hopped back on his horse. "We're on the right track. And could you tell your sister to stop littering in _my_ country?"

Elsa tutted. "No pirate is that tetchy." She looked behind them. "I'm glad I risked the sled. We'd be hours behind otherwise..."

Her suitor nodded in agreement. "Good work. You can slip down my track any time."

"You have a place you like to sled?"

He winked. "Sure."

. .

* * *

. .

The little creature gurgled up at Jani, gesticulating wildly with its oversized hands. Elsa looked over the odd little thing, asymmetrical and jerky in its movements, and over at the scattered remnants of a tiny house of twigs which must have been its home, and reflected on what an odd country this really was.

She stepped closer, and the goblin nearly jumped out of its skin and stumbled back a few steps. It seemed to have a limp. She understood how she might be intimidating to a creature that could have sat comfortably inside a teacup, but its apparent ease around her companion puzzled her. Mister Dread Dark Magic nodded along and answered back in a similar dialect. It wasn't Marsher- maybe old Norse? She was so rusty, the only word she could make out was... bear.

Suddenly she was running in the direction in which the sprite had been pointing, leaving Linnea behind in the clearing, her heart thumping hard, with a panic her head screamed was irrational, but all the same...

Then she smelt it.

Blood.

. .

 _Anna pushed the branches aside, eyes widening as she finally saw the source of the uproar. The biggest bear she had ever seen, a huge, hulking barn on legs, stamping and thrashing about on top of the smoking remains of the teeniest, tiniest house she'd ever seen. It howled and stamped as the fire singed its smoking fur._

 _The owner of the house was screeching and hollering, trying to draw the bear away maybe. But then it caught a flailing paw, knocking its pointy hat from its head and sending it sailing through the air._

" _Hey, you leave that little guy alone!" she screamed, rushing out and drawing her sword before she could think about what she was doing. Behind her, Roar turned the air blue._

 _Deciding she was probably toast if the beast charged them, she took the initiative herself and charged it instead, bolting into the clearing and swinging her sword into that big, furry face. She didn't know if the owner of the house was friendly or not- practically nothing in this stupid country was- but it had been wearing a hat. That made it people. Probably._

 _As she ran past and the bear tried to rear up and swing at her, Roar followed her up with a deep flank injury which made it bellow in shock. Then they both bolted away through the trees, hoping that they'd hurt it enough to draw it away, but slowed it enough that it couldn't catch and eat them._

 _It caught up with them in about five seconds, so not much of a plan there. A swipe of a vast paw sent Roar's sword flying. A set of muscular, gnashing jaws swung into Anna's face-_

 _-and then stopped, registering the sword that she'd buried to the hilt in the animal's throat. It spluttered for a second and a half, and then went limp, collapsing on top of her legs and pinning her to the muddy ground with hot blood pumping all over her. Ew, no, not nice..._

 _They limped back to the clearing to recover their horses and see about the goblin- Roar called it a tomte, but said a noble might say 'tonttu'. He sneered at that. Must be politics._

 _Regardless, the creature had vanished. But there was a strange squealing sound from the bushes now, like a piglet or something. Sword still drawn, Anna cut a path through the tangling greenery._

 _Oh!_

 _Oh no..._

 _The baby bear drew itself up onto its four feet, barking plaintively, and Anna groaned, feeling like the worst monster in history._

. .

Looking over the scene like a detective, Jani confirmed that all the blood was the bear's, much to Elsa's relief. It had been a huge creature...

"I guess Anna was right about 'giant bears'", she mused aloud.

"Eh?"

"Never mind." The goblin showed up and gurgled at Jani some more, before pressing a tiny cloth packet on him. There was a brief ritual exchange along the lines of refusal, then insistence, then grateful refusal, then humble insistence, then humble acceptance, and then Jani took the packet and opened it, finding it full of waxy red berries. They looked pretty toxic; still, he nodded in thanks, and they were on their way again.

"This isn't good..." she heard her companion mutter, as they rode on.

"What's wrong?"

"You might call it a bad feeling."

Elsa blanched. "Oh, don't say _that_. I'm barely sensible as it is."

He snorted. "You're _always_ sensible."

" _Not_ always- or have you forgotten already?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I see your point." Quite. Their _arrangement_ wasn't sensible in the least. Just... less insane than the alternatives.

Elsa turned her gaze back to the forest path in front of her. "Around you, it seems I have the potential to be very silly indeed..."

Jani blushed.

 _'A bad feeling'. Oh, that's never ominous..._

"You know..." the Myrtlean mused. "I'm not currently a woman."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "So you're my... loophole?"

She raised a hand to stop whatever crass retort he had for that question. "I'm not looking for a dodge, Jani. I just want to do the right thing..."

. .

* * *

. .

"Are we back in the high forest?" Elsa looked about at their surroundings. An uncomfortable silence had taken hold of the woods, and she was sure that the sky overhead had grown darker.

"No..." Jani knocked back another few berries and chewed thoughtfully. "You're getting better at picking up on this stuff, though. This is a... troubled place."

Were those _holly_ berries? "You know that those are poisonous?"

He chuckled. "I have the pine blood. I can't _be_ poisoned. Handy, but I find rum disappointing."

Then he shuddered violently, spitting red goo over his sleeve. "Shit..."

Elsa frowned.

"Scritch... scratch..." His eyes darted around, and he started to rummage through his pockets, while still urging his horse onward at a restrained pace.

"Jani, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure yet. So, you're religious, huh?"

"How is...?" Elsa growled in annoyance. He was clearly trying to avoid explaining himself. "Well, as sovereign I'm nominal head of the church, so it's fairly important that I am."

"Yeah, but 'the right thing'? The way you said it, well..."

An unearthly scream shook the trees around them. Elsa's spine prickled. Something... odd was in the air. Jani galloped off toward the sound, and Elsa chased after him.

"Look", he shouted back, "I have a monk in my blood, so I get it. And God's _brilliant_ of course- sunsets and everything. But... come on, is that why you're struggling? That's old-lady-religion, Elsa. Scrape the barnacles off your arse and sail on."

Elsa gasped. "Excuse me?"

He cackled. "Hail Mary, full of grace, and forgive me for saying a bad word and eating fish on a Tuesday and sneezing in a church and writing with my left hand oh, Heavens above, forgive me for being a dyke..."

Elsa frowned. If he was trying to keep her mind off Anna, it was working...

"Firstly, _we_ aren't Catholic. Secondly-" She caught her breath as Linnea stumbled slightly- "Don't use that word, if you please."

Jani's jaw tightened. "It's up to me what I call myself."

"That's not the point!" Elsa snapped. Did he really think this was about bad language? "In case it had slipped you by, whatever you call yourself in that line you are _also_ calling _me_."

Jani slowed his horse down, apparently not having considered that. "Good point..."

She reached out and put her hand on his arm. "I am trying to- this works both ways, Jani. I need you to care how your words..." She broke off, struggling to articulate her point. But he seemed to get it.

"So what should I call the likes of us?"

Elsa paused. She had acknowledged her feelings for women generally and Jani/Janna specifically, but hadn't really attached a... word to it.

"Well... in my country we normally say 'gay'."

"Ludicrously optimistic of you. Although, compared to 'round here... Queer?"

"I don't like the sound it has. Lesbian?"

"Does this look like Lesbos to you?"

"Jani!" Now he was just teasing. He wound her up better than Anna did...

"Okay, miss..." Jani rolled his eyes, picking up the pace a bit, forcing Elsa to follow. "Have it your way. 'Queen Elsa of Arendelle is gay'." He winked back at her. "Say it a few times, see how it rolls off the tongue."

He was testing her, curse that difficult man. _Huh. I thought 'man'...well, well..._ She opened her mouth, but... no, it was still hard, even to say it in her head. "You first."

Jani shook his head. "Are you mad? _I'm_ straight as a mast. I'm only bent as Janna."

She gave him a weary look. He looked back with an unrepentant smirk on his face.

Then his smile vanished. "We're here."

"What, where?"

Jani was dismounting. "Anna's fallen into a spirit's clutches. _Probably_ \- her trail leads right into its domain and it would explain that shrieking. Also..." He pointed towards some movement in the trees ahead. It was a horse, tied to a tree. Anna's horse.

Elsa's throat tightened. Her power started stirring, bleeding out from her pounding heart and infusing her whole body. She jumped from her mare and tried to keep herself steady.

"You... you..."

"Sorry I didn't say earlier. But, well-"

"You were distracting me?"

Jani looked a little guilty. "But we were a ways off, and you'd only have been brooding on your worries." He moved to continue into the woods. "Come- we _really_ need to hurry."

Elsa could hear... sounds, now, which deterred her from making an issue of it. She tied Linnea to a tree along with Anna's abandoned mount- the last thing she needed was her panicking and running off. Then she grabbed Jani's hand; he yelped at the cold, but she was pretty sure her deserved it. Together they rushing in the direction of the sound.

In short order they found its source. Deep amid the grove, in darkness that ill-suited the time of day, they saw a figure, huge and yet thin as a stick, working away with needle and thread against the bole of a great, pale oak. As they approached, Elsa could see more clearly; it was like a scarecrow built on a frame, with patches of motley cloth stitched together and stretched over its skeleton. Instead of hair, it had twists of rag-cloth in a great mop, hanging heavily over its shoulders. It must have been twice their height, crouched over the struggling figure it was stabbing at with the needle... Anna!

A spear of pale blue ice sailed cleanly through the apparition's head and shattered against the gnarled boughs of the oak, spraying slush everywhere and provoking a scream of discomfort from a cocoon of rag and twine forlornly struggling in the middle branches.

"ELSA!" screamed Anna. It looked like her clothes were being sewn onto the bark... that _thing_ had better not have hurt her...

"ANNA!" Elsa yelled back, raising her arms and shooting another couple of ice blasts through the phantasm. It was clearly useless, but she had to do... she just _had_ to! The creature turned to face them. She could see a _tibia_ poking out of its side... the whole thing was rag and bone. And too much bone for one person.

" _A belly-full o' bones and a face of patch..."_

Muttering some doggerel, Jani stepped forward, feeling around in his pockets a little too absent-mindedly, given the situation.

"What is this thing?!" Anna wailed.

Jani stepped towards the 'thing'- it hissed.

"It's a guardian angel."

 _Huh?_

"Kill it!" Anna didn't miss a beat.

Jani looked up at the gangly being, currently inspecting him as if he might make a good meal as it towered over their heads.

"No", he said, as if after much consideration. "No I won't."

. .

* * *

. .

 _Scritch scratch_

 _Echo moans_

 _A belly-full o' bones and a face of patch._

 _Scritch scratch_

 _Someone died_

 _Nowhere you can hide, you're the Ragdoll's catch._

 _._

 _Where are you sprung from?_

 _What may you be?_

 _What do you seek for-_

 _Are you hunting me?_

. .


	39. Chapter 39- Rag Doll, Part 2

CHAPTER 39- Rag Doll, Part 2

. .

* * *

. .

"No", the crow lord said, as if after much consideration. "No I won't."

Anna gaped. _Excuse me?! I'm in some trouble over here!_

She waved a small bag in the air. It rattled, and the rag creature made a gasping sound.

Oh, no, wait... The boobage was gone. 'She' was being 'he' again, probably.

"Here's what you really want- I'm right, aren't I?" Janna/Jani slowly stepped back from the tree, the apparition following him. The crow lord reached into the bag and pulled out a couple of small knuckle-bones. The thing lunged in after them, like a dog that sees a treat, but Jani casually sidestepped and threw the little bones into the undergrowth.

As the monster scrabbled around on the ground, Jani shrugged at Elsa. "It forgets. The innocent cannot satisfy its need- only the guilty. But it forgets, and lashes out."

He threw another bone off to one side, like a farmer sowing seed. "Would you like to hear a story?"

"No!" Anna yelled. She wanted to _not_ be sewn onto a tree trunk ten feet off the ground! The threads were digging into her in _all_ the wrong places.

"I wasn't talking to you", replied Jani, in a way which suggested _she_ was being rude.

"You'll find it interesting."

His eyes brightened, and his expression grew a little dreamy.

.

.

.

"There was a village around here once- not that much of a trace shows any more. And in this village the potter died, and left his only daughter. She wasn't too bright, truth told, but a sweet little girl, and her voice was like golden bells. All day long she would sing, though she was often hungry, and little more than a beggar with her father and mother gone- for the villagers were wicked folk, and would offer her nothing for free. At night she slept in the rafters of the storehouse, and dreamt that better times would come.

Now, there are spirits in this world that are not ghosts, or monsters, or trolls, or anything so great and noisy. Little spirits, flitting about like birds, seeking some need or purpose. And so, as the little girl laboured, played and sang, she made a friend, although I doubt she ever knew it. A little spirit, the smallest of all, had come to dwell at her side.

And no better companion could she have wished for, though it never spoke aloud. It watched over her, quietly, so she would not touch a hot oven, nor trip and fall into the stream when fetching water. No insect ever bit or stung her. She never got lost in the woods, always finding her way back by nightfall.

In time, the little spirit all but forgot that they had ever been two. To all appearances, the girl was lucky. But time passed, and, day by day, song by song, adulthood approached. And luck never survives unchanged.

The spirit did not understand the villagers. It knew nothing of spite or envy. It did not understand the thoughts of the young men. How could it have foreseen what would happen, that final day, when the girl went into the woods to collect mushrooms to sell, singing along as she always did, and the spirit revelling in the simple joy of the new day? How could it have known that, that day, they would follow her?"

.

.

.

A _very_ threatening growl from the rag creature interrupted Jani. It had found all its knuckle-bones, and seemed interested in him again. He tossed another couple across the grove, and kept circling as he told his story.

.

.

.

"What the young men did when they caught her- I need not speak of it, but that they were as cruel as that young girl was kind. And the spirit did not know what to do. It was only a little spirit, drawn to song, and the tortures of that long hour was nothing it could comprehend.

When the villagers had done as they wished to the girl, they carved off her face and hair with a butcher's knife, and left her where she lay. There- here- on the forest floor, she finally bled to death. And that little spirit, that fluttering, unseen bird, knew madness."

.

.

.

He emptied the remaining bones at his feet. The monster crouched down and started to pick at them, but was now watching the storyteller very attentively.

.

.

.

"In the nurturing darkness of the low forest, in the chill and black winter, its anger swelled- anger half understood by the spirit itself, which still could not remember where the divide lay between it, and the girl-child slowly mouldering beneath the grey trees. Perhaps she had taken a piece of it into death with her. Perhaps a piece of her lived on in the spirit. Maybe both- who can really say?

As the child turned to bone, and the spirit brooded, it fell ever deeper into madness. In time, its influence began to spread beyond this place. The villagers- the guilty and the uncaring alike- first found themselves struck by unseasonable illnesses. But they thought nothing of it, and would not give up the young men. Then, as the curse dug in its talons, came strange misfortunes- mysterious fires, horses lamed on level ground. Then they understood, but still they would not surrender the guilty.

After some months, they were near destitute and half-dead. When a log jam burst the riverbanks and swept off the village storehouse, the villagers finally rounded up those responsible and brought them into the forest. They meant to leave them at the mercy of the girl-child's vengeful spirit, in the hopes that their curse might be lifted.

And so they came into this grove. All the villagers, guilty and uncaring alike. And, guilty and uncaring alike, the spirit bound them all. For it had come to understand human guilt, and _all_ were culpable- those who had done the deed, and those who had not cared to punish it. They had only taken action, in the end, to save their own skins."

.

.

.

Jani pointed to the branches of the great oak.

"They hung here, bound in rag and twine, until they were nought but bone."

The monster had finished crunching up the little knuckle-bones. But now it just crouched still in front of the Crow Lord, shimmering slightly. Maybe that meant that it was full up?

Jani looked up at the monstrosity of filthy cloth and pale bone, and smiled as kindly as if it were a child.

"You brought _surma_ to the rot and the cancer, little one. Be blessed for your service to the black and blue."

He placed one hand on its filthy ragged patchwork of a face.

"But we are not those villagers. That was a long time ago.

It is time to remember."

The creature nodded, and the strange shimmering intensified for a moment. Then something happened that made Anna's ears pop, and the monster collapsed into a pile of bones. The translucent strands of ghost twine holding her to the trunk vanished at the same moment, and she fell to the forest floor with an undignified scream followed by an even less dignified _thud_.

Getting to her feet, she was still brushing herself off and making sure she had nothing worse than a few bruises when she was almost bowled over the force of Elsa crashing into her and wrapping her up in a warm, tight hug.

"You're okay!"

Elsa nodded. "But what about you?" She started to fuss over her little sister, checking her for injuries. At first Anna was too happy to even protest, but eventually she had to reassure her worry-wart sibling that she was basically fine. Actually, she had a bunch of needle-holes clumsily poked in her arms and legs which stung and probably needed ointment, but she would quietly see Gerda about that later rather than tell Elsa.

"I shouldn't have gone off like I did!" she blurted out. Geez, this was embarrassing. Like everyone didn't think she was a big kid already.

Elsa shook her head. "Neither should I..." She put her hand to Anna's face. "I lost control. I was acting horribly. I'm so sorry..."

Anna answered by hugging her back. "Don't worry about it!" She thought about that sentence for a second. "You know, if you _can_ 'not' worry about something. I mean you do kind of..." She looked at Elsa's expression and thought better of continuing that sentence. _Wow, she does good warning looks..._

Jani was sitting in front of the pile of bones, holding a small skull. "Look at that", he muttered, drawing a fingernail across its brow. "They gouged the bone, the bastards. Poor kid."

Anna cleared her throat. "Um, thanks for bringing my sister back." The Crow Lord nodded.

"Did you kill it with a story?"

His eyes flashed with that strange energy again. He seemed irritated. "There was no one here deserving of death. Not any more."

"But... how did you _know_ that story? About the spirit?"

Jani looked into the hollow eyes of the skull and sighed, deeply. "I know all the tales. I am the heart of Myrtle."

 _O-kay..._

Then he went to check on Roar, who had been rather rudely forgotten after all his help. As he went, she noticed Elsa watching him oddly. What had happened while they had been missing?

Did she want to know?

 _Please don't let them still be fighting. I don't think I could stand any more of that..._

An angry squeal issued from Anna's pack, still lying on the ground. _Oh no, he can't breathe!_ She rushed over and unbuttoned the flap, patting the fluffy little head that poked out. _Phew_. He seemed fine. The pack had smelt better, though...

"Anna..." Elsa sounded unimpressed.

She turned to her older sister and gave her the most piteous 'I'll understand if you don't want to...' eyes she could manage. " _Please_ Elsa. I killed his mamma..."

Her sister groaned.

. .

* * *

. .

When they reached the rest of the party they were greeted with cheers, like they'd won a great battle, rather than nearly getting themselves killed by doing stupid things. It was _nice_ to be cheered, though.

Before he wandered off to see to his gear, Anna stopped Roar to thank him for helping her. He told her to think nothing of it. "The Lord did say to watch you", he shrugged.

He turned to leave, but Anna caught his arm. "Something I couldn't figure out. It's nobles who use Marsher words, right?"

The big man nodded stonily. "Except for a few words soldiers use, basically. And a few swears."

"But Jani uses them all the time. Why was no one suspicious?"

"Oh, _that_." He grinned. "We just thought he was a bit of a wanker. You know bards."

He lumbered off to his tent. S _erves me right for asking, I guess_.

. .

* * *

. .

It was generally agreed, over a very large pot of potato stew which Gerda and her girls had started preparing while waiting for them to return with Anna, that everyone was far too beat to travel any further that day. The night, as usual, would only last a few hours, so they would all retire early and get up with the early morning sunrise. That gave them a good chance of traversing the mountains in two days, at which point they would be in Arendelle.

Jani sat outside the tent he had been given, on the outskirts of the castle grounds, and listened to his birds sing. The earthly voice of crows was hoarse and crackling, rough and unglamorous as their sooty plumage. But their thoughts and feelings were vibrant and luminous, intricate as prayers, almost human in their passion and profundity. As Jani gazed into the embers of his fire, they swept over him like colours, like notes of a familiar song, like... words were inadequate.

 _Winter..._

 _I don't know, Apricot..._ He just didn't. What had he agreed to? Taking things slow. Discretion. He understood the subtext.

Don't tell anybody.

It rankled, but he got it. She was still coming to terms with a whole lot of shit. She couldn't even admit that she was queer out loud yet. _Hitto_...

Understanding _in his head_ didn't make it any easier on the rest of him, strangely enough. He sat under the golden evening sky, watching the Arendelle folk mill about with firewood and bedding, and the high forest already seemed like a dream. How could something like that really have happened? How could it continue into real life? And would Elsa really want it to?

At this point in the stories, the insecure lover would normally pout and behave obnoxiously, forcing their intended to acknowledge them in some appropriately romantic fashion. He wasn't sure how that worked. It made more sense that the object of your affections would just dump you if you acted like a manipulative arsehole. Books... He needed more real-life relationship experience. _Where's my brother when you need him? He's slept with more girls than I have or ever will. Oh, right. Held hostage. Unreliable little bastard..._

He flexed the fingers of his right hand, watching the scars across its breadth flush pink. _They_ were real. Slowly, he stroked his fingertips across the raised marks, as _she_ had. Somehow it made him feel slightly better.

"Jani?"

He jumped up at the sound of Elsa's voice. She had approached while he was oblivious and was now looking at him with an inscrutable expression, and he was suddenly very self-conscious. Hopefully she hadn't seen him touching himself. _Wait... rephrase that..._

"Your majesty."

"Are we... all set for tomorrow?" Elsa cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I've explained the basic route we're taking to everyone, and the horses got plenty of rest down here, so yes. You'll be home in no time." Jani smiled, surprised at how much effort it took all of a sudden. Had they somehow lost the ability to talk to each other in the past couple of hours?

"Jani, I-" Elsa looked around her, eyeing the party members still up and about. More _discretion_. That made sense of the awkwardness. _We haven't worked out how to act around other people yet. I don't think she's even decided if we're a secret. I don't think she's decided ANYTHING, come to that._

"Just go to bed, Elsa". Jani smiled kindly. "Some things we can work out as we go along."

Her face brightened, inferring his meaning. _Oh, I hate being reasonable._

"Besides", he added, "up in the mountains we're at the mercy of the elements anyway."

"Speak for yourself", she wryly retorted. Glancing around again, she quickly leaned in and planted a kiss on Jani's cheek. Then she spun about and strode briskly off, blonde plait bouncing against her back, toward the fresh ice palace she had built against the ruins of the main keep.

Jani rubbed his face thoughtfully, watching her leave.

 _Cheek kiss._

 _Good or bad?_

. .

Later, when he was relatively confident he was the only one awake, Jani threw a few more sticks onto his fire and coaxed it back into life. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small figure of ragged cloth.

"You poor little sod..." He ran a finger down the face of the little rag doll, blackened and worn. A peasant's toy. Stained with dark smears that had once been blood.

"You know, you _could_ be of service to me", he observed, smoothing the knotted strips of its hair. "Would that be terrible?"

"No..." The rag doll considered carefully. When it spoke again, there was pain in its voice. "No Lord, I cannot remain. What... what I remember... it makes me forget."

Jani nodded. He had expected as much, or he wouldn't have gotten the fire going. "I _am_ the reasonable one today, aren't I just? Do you know the alternative?"

"Yes... can you help me?"

Jani sighed, and pulled out his knife. _I didn't tell her that I even kill magic, did I? Suck the life out of man and spell alike._ A few drops of his own blood sprinkled onto the doll, and he sensed its enchantment began to crumble.

"It's w-wr..." The doll's voice weakened, growing vague and distant. After listening for a few more moments to make sure, Jani tossed the doll onto the campfire, and watched it gradually wither amid the flames.

Some things cannot be fixed, only destroyed. Who knew that better than the Lord of Crows?

 _Fly free, little bird. Better luck next time, I guess_.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:** Well, there you go. Kudos to regular reviewer Shawn Raven for getting me on to stories about _varðir._


	40. Chapter 40- Bumps and Scrapes

CHAPTER 40- Bumps and Scrapes

* * *

. .

 _I smell of blood- tangy copper taint rising up my nose and into my eyes. Crawling back, I jump when my foot touches something dead, making me topple onto my bony arse like a drunk pitching about on the docks._

 _I look about, and all around me are the golden-yellow bodies of the foxes. Snake gutted them like fish. What even-_

 _A couple of the corpses are twitching. More sorcery? My newfound fires rise up hot in my chest, quickening mind and limb, and I reach for my cutlass. I breathe hard and slow- keeping it under control this time._

 _But no... I recognise what is happening. I know so many things now, things the others knew. I am not surprised when those of the foxes which bit me shudder and change, their magic unfurling before the poison of my blood. God, the sound of it. The cracks and crunches. Fur shrinks away, bones melt and remould, until human bodies lie still, naked and bleeding in front of me._

 _Not being surprised does not stop me from vomiting into my mouth._

 _Wiping away the bile, I stare for several seconds at the body of a girl perhaps slightly younger than me, knowing the truth but unable to bring myself to confirm it just yet. In the end I go and look her over, because someone has to._

 _My new eyes see everything too clearly. Everything is too hard and too bright and too sharply seared into memory. Examining her, I run through the macabre inventory in my head. Young- check. Blonde hair, shortish- check. Then I raise a limp hand and look for the sign Manner described. I know already, which only makes it worse._

 _I am not surprised when I see the two crooked fingers on her left hand, which had been broken once and set inexpertly. But it doesn't stop it feeling like a cannonball to the gut. I nearly throw up again._

 _Panting and gasping behind me. Rinne approaches, smelling of blood too. Doughy bastard, but turned out not so bad. Slow on his feet... He starts to speak, but falls silent when he sees the limp figure I cradle in my arms._

 _I look up at him, feeling the burning heat throb in my eyes and no longer caring. Lowering Lilja Manner's body to the ground, I point toward the castle keep, just visible through the treeline._

" _The witch. Dies."_

. .

Jani stared up at the tan canvas of the tiny tent over him, listening to the irregular patter of sparse raindrops, drumming like spirit fingertips against the taut fabric. Bad memories...

He brushed away a tear, growling in irritation. They shouldn't have stayed at the fox castle. He'd never get to sleep in _this_ place.

 _Apricot?_

Her call was followed by a scratching at the tent flap; he raised it and the old bird hopped in.

 _Apricot?_

He smiled. _I'd appreciate that, thanks._

The raven nestled down on his bedroll and half closed her piercing grey eyes. Jani smoothed down her dark feathers with the back of his fingers, still absorbed in his thoughts.

 _Winter?_

His anxieties were pretty obvious, then.

 _I... don't know_ , Jani replied, sighing deeply. _I don't think she knows either, yet._

The old bird croaked sleepily. _Winter comes in its own time._

 _I suppose it does... You're very philosophical for a crow, you know that?_

Apricot looked up at him blankly.

Or maybe she just got lucky with that one. Still...

 _Oh Elsa, figure things out. Please_.

. .

* * *

. .

"Elsa, you're okay. I'm here."

"And me!" chimed in Olaf, perching himself on the edge of her ice bed and playing with his feet. His cheeriness was a bit forced, Anna noticed, as she gave her sister a comforting squeeze. She wasn't the only one seriously worried, then.

"It was just another bad dream", Elsa lied half-heartedly, in that way she did. "I get them it's just-"

Then she trailed off.

Olaf frowned. "So, is something different? You're still trembling."

Elsa thought for a while before answering. "Maybe it's just having been in the darkest part of the forest. It was... not good."

She was hiding something- Anna could see it in her guarded expression. _What's the point of learning about diplomacy from those books if you can't handle a poker face?_ "Would you like to, I dunno, talk about it?"

Her sister shook her head, blonde hair drifting down her shoulders where it had come loose. "Maybe tomorrow. I don't know..."

Since her rescue, Anna had seen Elsa and Jani looking very oddly at each other. And they had hardly spoken two words to one other on the ride back. The tension had been palpable- _something_ was definitely going on. She had really hoped they might have come to some understanding by now. That crazy Myrtlean had better not have been making Elsa's life harder. _I mean, Elsa hasn't exactly been great about the whole princess-in-disguise business, but..._

"I'm sorry I woke you up again."

Anna gave her another hug. "Forget about it..."

She'd _definitely_ ask some questions in the morning, though.

Two more days, they reckoned, then it was home and warm beds and Kristoff's strong arms. _Um... maybe not in that order. Ooh, goosebumps..._

If Anna could just keep them from fighting. When did _she_ get to be the sensible one?

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa sat through breakfast in a kind of semi-conscious haze, chewing, swallowing, and nodding along with conversation in the mechanical manner of a somnambulist. What part of her mind actually functioned so soon after waking from such a broken night's sleep was... elsewhere.

She hadn't properly thanked Jani for helping save Anna. She had gone out to do so, and then completely lost the ability to speak. Servants and soldiers had been walking around. They had all seen Niska's horrible display. They must all be _wondering_ about her. She had felt their eyes on her back.

She hadn't even explained their understanding to Anna- she was still considering how to go about that, and trying to pool her reserves of courage for the event. So how could she throw her arms around him, as she had _so_ wanted to, in front of everyone? It was different when they were alone. _Intimate_. A place of trust. The idea of being a _spectacle_...

. .

 _Elsa sat bolt upright in bed, startled by the knock at the door. Mamma and Pappa were demanding to be let in. The key was still in the lock. Why did they sound angry? She swung her legs over the side and pulled herself to her feet. What time was it? She was already trembling with anxiety. Frost started to spread over the crimson sheets, towards-_

 _That was when she noticed the other figure in the bed- lean, bare arms trailing over the pillows out from a bulge in the covers they wouldn't fail to spot. Elsa's heart jumped into her throat- while Janna hummed and grunted in her sleep, oblivious to the commotion outside. Pappa was furious. Mamma was crying. They knew! They knew! There was a creaking from the door, as slowly, slowly, the key began to rotate all by itself..._

. .

That dream... Elsa shivered. It took no great art to see where her anxieties lay. But best to put it from her mind. This matter needed dealing with, or she would be a mess before long. She stood up abruptly from the breakfast table she had made- startling Anna, who had been focused on feeding various morsels to the bear she had adopted- and quietly announced that she needed to go outside for a moment.

The bear. Oh, _Anna_... As if they needed more to deal with.

She would speak to Jani. Thank him, this time, and maybe even see if he had any ideas about talking to Anna. Yes.

Stepping out into the fresh air and sudden, earnest brightness of the early morning, she slightly lost her bearings and had to look around a moment to remember where Jani had actually camped.

People were already up and about. She didn't really want to be seen meeting with Jani alone... Why add to the gossip? She resolved to find his tent and then slip inside quietly when no one was passing. There was a risk of catching him in an indecent state, but... no, it was the only option.

Finding his tent was the easy part, once her eyes had adjusted and she had taken a moment to think. There were only around ten tents in total, and only one had a dozen or more crows sleeping, feeding, or just wandering around it.

She let her path lead her casually in that general direction, trying to look like she was just taking a stroll. A servant curtseyed in passing, and she smiled back awkwardly. Was that suspicion in her eyes? Still, she continued. Slipping behind a tent, she crouched down and looked around. She was out of sight of the party members tending to breakfast, but she could see one of Jani's Myrtlemen wandering- or possibly patrolling in a very irregular style- past his tent. The young one- Odd, was it? There didn't seem to be anyone else, so she waited for him to amble off some distance before tiptoeing from her hiding spot and approaching her suitor's tent flap.

. .

 _She shook Janna by what felt like the shoulder, but she didn't move. She was silent. Elsa whipped the covers back- and had to choke back a scream. Janna lay silent and stiff; her tangled hair turned from black to snow white. Spiralling fractals of blue blossomed over her smooth skin._

 _With an agonisingly slow creaking sound, the bedroom door began to open. Elsa couldn't move an inch. She couldn't run. She couldn't hide. The open doorway yawned in front of her, filled with black shadowy figures. They pointed. They gasped. Somehow she felt their contempt, like a wall of heat. Their disappointment. In the crimson sheets of the bed, she could only watch as Janna turned to solid ice. She felt the cold draught wash over her skin, and realised that she was naked. Completely naked. She stood shivering, paralysed, bare in front of the hateful eyes of the world. And there was no escape._

. .

And then Anna had woken her. Thank goodness.

Once again the dream had intruded into her thoughts. She pushed it back again. _Not now, fear..._ Anna was calling for her- she could hear her at the door of the ice house. Not now, sister... Glancing over her surroundings one more time to make sure there were no non-corvid eyes on her, she slipped into the little tent.

Jani was fine. Hair the proper black, skin the proper pinkish-white, so far as she could see. Well, of course he was. It was irrational to worry about him because of a stupid dream, but she still felt like a load slipped off her back when she saw him. He was up and moving, oblivious to her, rummaging about in his gear and singing a tune to himself. God, he had such charm, without even trying... Elsa watched him, wondering when to announce her presence. He was dressed only in his grey shirt and breeches, and she could see the lean, toned lines of his back and shoulders through the thin fabric. The way his dark locks fell against the nape of his long, elegant neck... not really a man's neck, no...

An uncharacteristic impulse seized her; she stepped forward and placed a soft kiss on the back of that lovely neck. This proved to be a mistake.

There was a startled shout from the Myrtlean, and then a painful _crack_ as Jani's head swung back sharply into her her face.

. .

* * *

. .

Anna was coming to the spot where she thought she'd seen Elsa sneaking off. Was she in one of the tents? They all looked the same- plain brown workaday things. Was she avoiding her? They hadn't really talked properly, about her flying off, about _anything_ , and it was just getting so-

Her sister's scream stopped her short. It was accompanied by a _hiss_ of magical discharge; Anna ran towards the sound in time to see Elsa stumble out of one of the little tents, clutching her bloodied nose, followed immediately by Jani. Crows flew away squawking in every direction.

 _Jani_. Something inside her brain exploded.

He was running after Elsa, and seemed to be caught by surprise when Anna's fist connected loudly with his ear and knocked him off his feet.

He sprang back up again, and as she rained blows and kicks on him he parried each one with an insufferable collected ease which only made her rage burn even more white-hot than before. He was trying to say something, make some excuse, but she couldn't hear over her heartbeat in her ears and didn't really care. _I'll get another one through your guard eventually, you fink! How dare you?!_

Then Elsa grabbed her and pulled her back. Her nose was puffy and still dribbling blood. It hurt to look at. Anna pushed her away, and jabbed her fingers at both of them.

"I'm sick of this!" she screamed. She felt tears in her eyes. "If you can't work it out, just... stay away from each other! But don't fight! I can't _deal_ with you if nothing's changed..." She closed in on Jani. "And if _you_ so much as-"

She stopped. "Wait... what?"

Jani's hair was turning white. Then Anna noticed the sparkling particles of frost still clinging to his shirt.

Elsa made a panicked noise, then grabbed Jani by the elbow. "Come on! We need to go to the house." Anna opened her mouth to protest, but Elsa silenced her with a look that could have curdled milk. "No argument."

They walked back towards the ice structure in awkward silence. Everyone was out of their tents and staring at them, obviously, after all the ruckus. Elsa was leading Jani like an invalid, while clutching a handkerchief to her face with her free hand. Where had she got a handkerchief? It wasn't ice. Had... had _Jani_ passed it to her? This was confusing.

Jani stumbled on the step to the house, and Elsa held him up. She looked terrified. Anna saw that Jani's hair was already nearly white, and one of his eyes had turned grey. Weird.

They shut the door behind them, and Elsa conjured a chair for the Myrtlean before sitting him in it like an attentive nurse.

"What happened?" Olaf bounced up, which gave them a start since he was missing his carrot somehow. "Ouch..." He peered at Elsa's face. "Your nose looks really unhappy."

"At least she _has_ one", Jani remarked from the chair, a bit dreamily. His hair looked bluish in the muted light of the ice house. "Where's the carrot?"

Olaf looked glum. " _He_ took it." He pointed to the baby bear, who was rolling around on the floor clutching the carrot with all four paws. _Aww, precious_...

He looked at Elsa. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

Elsa nodded, frowning as if it were an odd question. "I'm more worried about _you_. Oh, this is all my fault..."

Jani snorted. "Please, my power's already sorting itself out. No magic dominates here but mine, remember?" He tapped his head. Actually... Anna could see that both his eyes were their normal dark blue again. Elsa gasped a cry of relief and hugged him around the still-snowy head.

She was _never_ that expressive... Anna groaned in frustration. "I don't get you! Are you fighting or _not_? Are you friends or _not_?"

Elsa and Jani looked at each other significantly. Elsa blushed, and cleared her throat.

"Well, first, we _aren't_ fighting. We... it was an accident."

"We just bumped heads." Jani added. Elsa smiled at him, and he winked.

"Oh..." Anna began to feel like an idiot all over again. But what was she supposed to have thought? Anyway... if they weren't... wait a minute...

"And, how are you... getting along?"

Elsa stared at her hands as if trying to find the words to speak.

"Are you sure?" Jani asked her, looking at her in a way Anna couldn't interpret.

Elsa grunted, and offered him a bittersweet smile. "I was always going to _tell_ her, Jani. She's my _sister_."

Even though she didn't really get what was going on, that comment sent a warm tingle right through Anna's chest. "Tell me what?"

Elsa took a breath. "Anna, we're not ready to go public with this. Well, _I'm_ not... But what I'm trying to say is that..." She reached out and took hold of Jani's hand.

 _Oh..._

"We have an... understanding."

Anna frowned. "Of what?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "We are _courting_ , Anna. I am entertaining a suitor."

"And _I'm_ just entertaining." Jani shook his head hard, and the white started to fade from his hair. "But it's true. Early days, mind..."

"And this _doesn't_ go beyond us for now." Elsa added quickly. She gave Olaf one of her 'strict' looks, and he nodded solemnly.

Anna sat down hard on the edge of her bed, picking up the little bear and cuddling him, while she let her brain process everything. Dear little thing. All silky fluff and wet nose. She was thinking of Chocolate for a name- because of his fur. Would that get confusing, though? Running through the castle, screaming for chocolate was all she did some days already.

"So you're... together?"

Elsa smiled shyly. "I suppose we are."

Anna thought for a second. "Kristoff says you have his blessing. In case that helps."

Elsa stopped short.

" _Kristoff_ knows?"

. .

* * *

. .

 **NOTES**

Well, that takes care of that.


	41. Chapter 41- Attitude

CHAPTER 41- Attitude

* * *

. .

Sven bounded along through the shadowy forest, trying to spot some recognisable shape amid the gloom. There had to be a carrot stall here _somewhere_. Or, failing that, some grass that wasn't more of that tough alpine stuff- like a mouthful of horse hair. Yuck.

He could dimly see a light ahead in the distance. The vague hope of finding some convenient human to feed him spurred him towards it, half-trailing the three snowgies behind him as they clung weightlessly to his antlers.

He missed Kristoff. Kristoff always had carrots. And knew where to scratch. These little blob things didn't even have fingers.

The light turned out to be a yellow lantern, hung high up on a branch. Under it, at a table made from an old tree stump, sat a little, old, bald-headed man, next to a great black sack which shuddered and twitched even without any wind touching it.

Maybe the bag had carrots in it? Sven's mouth began to water.

The man shuffled a deck of cards aimlessly, and smiled a toothless smile at the odd bunch that had stumbled into view. He had horns like a ram, which was odd, but Sven was too polite to draw attention to it.

"Hello, little ones." The old man's eyes glinted blackly, and he gestured to the table, and the deck of cards, in invitation. "Care for a game?"

. .

* * *

. .

"And that means _Kai_ knows..." Elsa grumbled, possibly to herself.

Anna brushed snow out of her horse's mane and tried not to roll her eyes. "I already said sorry about ten times. Anyway, Gerda said they'd both suspected your secret for years."

"It wasn't a secret... not exactly." Elsa looked up at the sky. Everyone was getting lightly dusted with fine powder. "Jani, should we be getting snow at this altitude?"

He looked incredulous. "Well, _no_."

The Queen fell silent for a moment. "It's me, then."

"You think?"

"Oh no..." Elsa paled, and her hand went to her mouth in horror. "What if he tells other people? For all we know I'm already a tavern tale!" She covered her face. "There will be songs, and _everything_..."

"Elsa!" Anna chose that moment to put her foot down. "This is _Kristoff_. You can _count_ on him. He's _proven_ that."

Elsa stopped her paranoid ramble. "You- you're right. I'm sorry, it's all..."

Anna continued. "If you want to know how people will react, talk to Gerda! She _always_ knew and she didn't _care_. You're a good person, Elsa. People know that." She squeezed her sister's arm. "I mean, some people won't like it, but they'll mostly be the same folks who hated you after they found out about your magic, so..." She read Jani and Elsa's expressions. "... So, I should have finished this pep talk a couple of sentences earlier. My bad."

"Are you going to be warm enough?" Elsa asked Jani. Changing the subject... "I don't know if we have any extra layers for you to..."

"Not without stripping the dead, no." Jani shrugged. "I'm pretty resistant to cold. Part evergreen, blood prone to overheating, you know how it is."

 _That's going to come in useful_ , Anna thought.

Elsa turned to her next. "How about you, Anna? Are you going to be alright when we get higher up?"

"I'm wearing all the clothes I have with me at once! If you cut me in half I'd look like an onion!" Anna groaned, ready to gently soothe the next of her sister's compulsive attacks of worrying. "Elsa, you know you don't have to baby me. High altitudes are old news to this girl. Remember last year when I had Kristoff take me up the North Mountain?"

Jani burst out laughing, catching the sisters by surprise. Anna looked at Elsa quizzically.

"Don't ask _me_ ", her sister responded, as the Myrtleman struggled to stay on his horse. "He keeps doing this. I think he tells himself jokes."

After a while, Jani got his breath back enough to speak. "He 'took you up the North Mountain?'"

"Yeah..." Anna frowned.

"Must have been a real test of stamina..."

"Oh yeah. My legs were burning before we were halfway to the top. I thought I was going to faint a couple of times."

That seemed to make him worse- he was shaking and giggling like an overstimulated tot. It was weird. Jani was so _weird_.

"Jani..." Elsa murmured, with a hint of warning.

"He got you there, though?" the crow lord practically squeaked, wiping tears away.

"Jani!" Elsa repeated.

She looked at him hard for a couple of seconds, and he sighed and lowered his head. "Yes, Miss."

Now her sister had stopped the silliness, Anna was about to finish the story and explain how they found Elsa's ice palace- but then Olaf came bounding up behind them. The baby bear had been raising havoc on the supply wagon, and Gerda had asked Olaf to fetch Anna. Apparently she was real annoyed. Oh, sugar.

Still, they'd somehow managed to Elsa's mind off worrying for a few minutes. Especially with Jani's odd jesting.

Had that been his aim?

. .

Jani looked at Elsa. "What?"

She looked away, blushing on her sister's behalf. "You _know_ what."

He grinned. "Dear, sweet, oblivious Anna. You Southerners are too easy."

"Because we don't all have smutty imaginations?" Elsa inquired, frostily. "Sometimes I think you're just trying to get a rise out of me."

"Uh-huh..." Jani looked down. "To be honest, I kind of am. When you're just- I never try to make you actually _angry_ , right? But when you're just a little bit prickly, you lower your eyes, and get this _tone_ in your voice..."

"But you-" Elsa stopped. "What tone?"

"Like a Queen. Like an _goddess_. A tone that just says 'Kneel before me and offer service'. And there's always this chill in the air when it happens..."

Jani sighed dreamily. "I can't get enough of it."

Elsa didn't respond for a moment, and Jani took the time to review their itinerary. The path up to the mountains was too branching and tangled to map- their road was already winding through crags big enough to be hills in their own right, with anaemic dwarf willows clinging to the tops of them, scruffy yellow-green branches putting him in mind of Anna's morning hair. He hoped the road would stay even enough for the wagons.

"I never knew I could sound like that..." Elsa sounded oddly forlorn. "I always seem to sound like a stressed-out babysitter."

Jani chuckled. "Aye, sometimes you do. I guess... it really happens when something makes you forget to worry. Like irritation. Or anger."

"Well, thanks for helping with _that_..." Elsa retorted sarcastically. "I suppose I could listen out, try to work on it?"

He nodded. "Might help you get your dragon back, for one thing."

There was some kind of noisy bollocks going on behind them. They turned to see Anna ride back up, wrestling with the newest addition to their group. Olaf was bounding along behind her horse, waving his twiggy arms. His nose was missing.

"Let. Go!" Anna yelled into the squirming ball of fur on her lap.

Jani sighed. "What part of you looked at our current situation and said 'I know what we need: a bear. A living, shitting bear.'"

"He's just misbehaving."

"Of course he is! He's a wild animal!"

"If we're voting, I'm conflicted." Olaf piped up, breathlessly. How did a snowman run out of breath?

There was a sharp _snap_ , and he shrieked in alarm when Anna held up half a carrot sheepishly. The bear settled down, and started to suck on the other half as if it were a bottle. Anna dropped the other half down to Olaf with an apology. "We'll get you a new nose at home."

She looked up at Jani sharply, cradling the cub. "What should I have done- let him die?"

Her eyes widened. "You _do_ think that! You think I should have killed him!"

Jani looked at the little bear, gathered up in Anna's skirts. It stopped chewing on the carrot tip and fixed him with a black-eyed stare of perfect, fluffy innocence, as if it hadn't just been raising hell.

He sighed. "Don't look at me like that..."

"Maybe he understood you."

"Olaf, he's a baby bear. He doesn't-"

"Maybe you hurt his feelings." The snowman was relentless...

Elsa spoke up, looking annoyed. "What were you saying about the dragon- before all... _this_?"

"Well, you can't get your own creation to obey you. That doesn't make any sense. The capacity has to be in you somewhere. Especially with this dragon- it's clearly connected to you, reacting to you."

Elsa frowned, and Jani tried not to be distracted by the experience. Or the way the wind whipped the loose strands of ivory hair around her adorable thinking face, or- _Concentrate_!

"So you think the problem's... what, my attitude?"

Jani chose his words very carefully. "I think- and I could be wrong- but I know a fair few things about magic, and kingship. But... I think the fear in you doesn't just disrupt your control over your powers. I think it stops you fully realising your authority. You're the Snow Queen. You're Elsa, yes, a beautiful human being with hopes and ideas and plans, complete and entire as a person. But, like me, you're also something else."

He pointed to Olaf, who was screwing the ruined remains of the carrot into his face dejectedly.

"Your power is Winter. That's really, really, big, _kultani_. You made _him_ , for God's sake!"

The two sisters turned to the snowman, who was now trying to sharpen his nose to a point with a pocket knife. He turned up his truncated snout and sniffed, as if trying it out.

Jani growled. "Look, it's more impressive than it sounds... You have power over life itself! You command whole seasons! Every thing of cold and ice is _yours_. It shouldn't have a _choice_ about obeying you, any more than a tree _chooses_ to drop its leaves."

Elsa seemed to take his words to heart. At least, he hoped that was the reason she had gone silent, staring at the path ahead with that distant expression. Her hands loosened on the reins, and, except that rope of silky hair twitching with every hoof-beat, she sat in her saddle statue-still. Maybe he had said too much. There was a lot of scar tissue there.

He knew the feeling. _Shit... shit... Say something, Elsa!_

And then, after what seemed like an age...

"I'll... think it over."

He smiled, relieved. "Thanks."

. .

* * *

. .

Sven's harness lay on the table. So did his shiny medal. And a turnip the snowgies had found in the hold. Not a carrot, but Sven still sniffed at it hungrily; the old man coughed in irritation.

"I said, it's _your_ turn", he reminded Sven in a tone that was friendly, but somehow not reassuring. He chuckled, scratching behind his spiralling horns. The old man chuckled a _lot_. But not like the snowgies.

Sven looked down at his cards, which Ole, Dole and Doffen where propping up for him, and tried to make sense of them. Humans made it look really easy, with their clever fingers and magic word shapes.

"Don't forget- it's winner takes all now." The stranger patted the bag next to him. "If you take this hand, you get back everything I've won today, plus what's already in my sack. But if I win one more hand..." His eyes brightened when he looked at the reindeer, as if he were maybe thinking about carrots.

"One more and I get your _soul_ , Sven."

. .

* * *

. .

"Are you really fine with all... this... Jani stuff?" Anna asked, stumbling over the sentence a couple of times- like she hadn't expected to say what she did, or perhaps not in those words.

Elsa stared into space, trying to work out an answer. They had stopped for lunch in a willow grove nestled between two low peaks, like a kind of gateway between the forest and the mountains proper. An apple had sat untouched in her hand for several minutes; Jani had tossed it to her before heading off to do whatever it was exactly he did with his crows. Seek advice? Send out scouts? She didn't know how it worked. She felt guilty about that, as it occurred to her that she had never actually asked. Not as such. Not about talking with them.

 _I can't even talk to my own creations._

In his absence, the world continued. But somehow in more muted tones, as if some integral spice or pigment were now missing from the formula of life. A laugh, a snide remark... a pair of bright eyes filled with promises, and the same sense of hidden pain she recognised in her own every time she looked in the mirror.

She had caught herself looking around for him, and had felt an odd pang when she remembered that he was elsewhere- even though he was probably all of eighty yards away and would be back in twenty minutes. It was disturbing to miss someone whom she had not even met a month ago.

Would rationality always be elusive in the face of her emotion? It seemed a cruel trick to give humans reason, and yet doom them always to deprive themselves of it in the face of any fearful or wonderful thing. Passion did distort the mind so.

Perhaps Jani was right. Perhaps she only used her greatest powers when her fear was pushed out of the way by something else. She had created Olaf unconsciously, out of the overwhelming joy of her epiphany on the mountain. Marshmallow had sort of... _happened_... when her need to be left alone was all she could think of.

Anna still needed an answer. _But what did-_

"Wait... what specific 'Jani stuff' do you mean?"

Anna looked taken aback. "What do you think? The dressing-as-a-boy stuff."

Elsa sighed. A little ladybird of ice grew on top of her apple, and started to crawl along.

"Is it alive?" Her sister's blue-green eyes were wide. Elsa shook her head.

"It's infused with my power. Like the doors and windows and... _merry-go-rounds_ I can make move automatically. Somewhere in between life and... not life. That's still something I'm figuring out. I thought you were okay with Jani's 'switches'."

Her sister leaned forward, fidgeting with her coppery plaits. "Well... I am. I mean, I don't get it, not really. But it's important to people. You have to let them be themselves." She shrugged.

"But... it's weird that _you_ seem okay with it all, when a few days ago when you found out..." Anna broke off awkwardly. "Oops."

Elsa felt the colour leave her face.

 _You freak!..._ Even after all that had happened, she still cringed with shame at the memory of that moment. Every time she thought about that moment she felt worse about how she had acted. Thought of a hundred better ways she could have... but nothing could change the past, and the memory remained as it always would. A heavy, black lump of regret, like a lead weight weighing on her soul.

Along with all the others.

She closed her eyes and tried to collect herself. The ice ladybird spread minute, shimmering wings, and began to drift through the air with an almost imperceptible buzz.

"It was never about the passing." Elsa shook her head. "That wasn't a big deal."

"It isn't?!" She had clearly lost Anna on that point.

"I don't care." stated Elsa, bluntly. "Well, I _care_ , but it doesn't _matter_."

She brushed tears from the corners of her eyes. "Look, to Jani, he's a man. At the moment. Fine, I'll respect that- I never saw manhood or womanhood as some magical sacred thing, and I don't like telling people what their place should be. But however much he wants it, however much we _both_ want it, that _isn't_ the measure by which the world will judge us."

Elsa looked down at her hands.

"And they _will_ judge us, Anna."

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, as if she could exhale all her sadness out onto the mountain wind. It didn't help.

Anna got up as if to give her a hug, but then jumped and waved at someone behind them. She gave Elsa a warning glance. "Oh, _hi_ , _Jani_. What's new with... you know, birds and junk?"

The ladybird burst like a soap bubble.

Anna's improvisation was somehow even worse than Elsa's would have been, but Jani seemed to ignore her behaviour. Several crows of at least three species were hopping along behind him, and that great raven of his was perched on his shoulder like a scruffy black eagle. She and her master looked significantly at each other, and then she flew off.

"There are a few rockfalls, but there's a decent path wide enough to use." Jani reported plainly. "Oh, and we found your dragon. It's near enough to our route that it'll see us, perched on one of the lower peaks."

Elsa felt like she was expected to be relieved, but... she wasn't sure. There was a lot to consider. What if she couldn't talk the dragon down? What if she did? Would it be safe to bring it home? Anna's bear seemed a pretty small risk compared to forty feet or so of animated ice.

And it had already killed. For her. She had summoned it.

Anxiety stirred her heart. She felt the cold growing in her chest...

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it", offered Anna, maybe picking up on her sister's burgeoning stress headache.

Jani grunted, and went to his horse. But there was something... Elsa's heart started hammering faster than it already had been when it finally struck her. No little grins. No winks. No cryptic comments. What had made Jani suddenly so terse?

 _Oh fudge. He heard us!_

Oh, what must he think? But then... Elsa thought back over what she had said to Anna, trying to divine if any particular statement could be taken out of context or disastrously misheard.

They'd been talking behind his back- but Anna had brought it up- but what if he didn't know that?- although he surely expected them to talk, that's what sisters did- but Jani guarded his privacy jealously, as Elsa did, and would hate her to gossip- but she hadn't really- but what if it seemed like she had?... A hundred unlikely but devastating and/or guilt-inducing scenarios presented themselves before her ever-fertile imagination.

Her fretful train of thought was interrupted by a gloved hand waving in front of her face.

"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed. "Stop beating yourself up over the dragon and get back on the horse. We've miles and miles to go before sunset."

Elsa brushed herself off and rose, untying Linnea and springing up onto her back with an ease that reflected how much riding practice she had been getting lately. This was probably the fittest she'd ever been. Silver linings...

"You do realise", she commented to her sister, "that sunset isn't until almost eleven o'clock?"

Jani remained unusually quiet as they set off. Elsa resolved to talk to him the next time they broke for a rest. Whatever would she say, though?

. .

* * *

. .


	42. Chapter 42- Entanglements

CHAPTER 42- Entanglement

* * *

. .

The old man tossed his hand onto the rough table with a flourish and whistled. "Well, well, Sven. Full house again. I'm on a roll _and_ I'm a poet." Something ugly sparkled in his eyes. Something hungry.

"So, boy, show us your hand..."

The snowgies propping up Sven's cards started to giggle and chatter. The old man looked at them slowly, as if he hadn't _quite_ noticed them before...

"Now what in the name of light infernal..." He shook his head and seemed to forget them again.

The snowgies bounced away, letting Sven's hand fall flat on the table. He hoped they meant something good. They were mostly pictures of smiling humans, although one of them had put a sword in his own head.

The old man wasn't smiling. He was glaring at the cards, shaking slightly like a kettle boiling over. Sven hoped he hadn't done anything wrong- those snowgies were always getting him into trouble these days.

"Chaos! CHAOS!" The stranger erupted, flinging his cards down and slapping at his horns in a rage. "Little pieces of- and all for a stupid reindeer!"

Then the old man vanished into rippling air, like a reflection in a water trough. Perched on Sven's shoulders, the little snowmen burst into raucous, formless laughter.

Carelessly, he seemed to have left his bag behind. A bag full of... carrots? Sven's eyes brightened with hope. However dark things got, carrots always turned up eventually.

. .

* * *

. .

"No, why ever would I be angry?"

Elsa wished Jani didn't have the kind of voice that made sarcasm hard to make out. They probably didn't have long before Anna or Olaf came to join the conversation, and Jani had gone off on his own, and she felt like he was intruding, he probably had just needed the bathroom or something, and it was so awkward...

Her suitor sat down on a broken log in a way which _would_ have seemed relaxed- only Elsa had spent a lot of time watching him move lately, and it seemed forced. He pulled a cloth out of his pocket and started to clean his gear. A pocket telescope was the first to receive an unduly harsh polishing. "Look, I'm always a _little_ bit angry. Doesn't always take much to set it off, sometimes I just wake up in an evil shitty mood."

Elsa would have liked to believe a word of it. She really would. "Jani... I know you were listening to us." She pointed to herself. "Lifelong eavesdropper. One knows another."

He remained closed off, focusing his attention on a pocket knife which did, to be fair, look filthy. She hoped he didn't use it with food. "So, what of it?"

"I don't want there to be any misunderstanding..."

"Ha!" Jani shook his head. "No, I wasn't angry. Just gave me a lot to think about."

Elsa clasped her hands together to stop them from trembling. It wasn't fair that he could affect her like this. "Such... as?"

"'Freak', was it?" He examined his compass, the glass of which had now probably never been more pristine. "I thought that was about the switching. But it wasn't, was it? That was never the problem at all."

"What are you saying?..." asked Elsa, hesitantly. The bitter reminder of her cruelty knotted in her stomach, and she was struggling to keep her voice from cracking.

Jani finally looked her in the eye."Well it seems to me", he dryly proposed, aping Elsa's own tone and choice of words, "that whatever you call _me_ in that vein, you're also calling _yourself_."

Elsa wasn't going to crumble. She inhaled, she exhaled, and felt her anger steel her _just_ enough.

"Fine." She turned and walked away toward the wagons. "We'll continue when you're ready to be constructive."

"Wait! Elsa, we have to-" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jani jump up and grab for her hand, but she shook him off. Or at least, she tried to. She looked down at her uncooperative limb and found that Jani had somehow knotted their hands together with the polishing cloth.

"What _is_ this?"

Jani shrugged. "If I don't get to run off, neither do you. But I don't have any ice chains, so..."

She sighed. "Is that what you want? A level playing field?"

"I don't know...", Jani muttered, in a way that sounded oddly confessional. Then he yanked at the cloth, causing her to almost stumble against him.

"Nice try..." Elsa smiled gamely, spotting a spark of humour in her suitor's dark eyes and deciding to encourage it before the opportunity passed. Then she pulled back, causing Jani to stumble in turn, although mainly because she had frozen his boot to the ground. She could shatter their knotted tie like glass whenever she wanted and Jani surely knew it, but why end the game when she could easily beat it?

"Cheat!" Jani tried to slip out of the boot, but Elsa quickly froze the other one, causing him to trip straight backwards onto his butt with a yelp. Which turned out to be a bad idea, since they were still joined at the wrist, and Elsa was launched forward straight on top of him.

"I win", she declared, drawing herself up into a sitting position and noting that, once again, she was perched on her suitor in what could be fairly termed a compromising position.

Was someone coming? She looked around quickly. No, they were alone.

Jani groaned in unconvincing irritation. "How about you save time and just admit you kind of like sitting on me? I mean, there's a pattern here."

Elsa rubbed her chin, pretending to ponder deeply. "Well, the view from up here is agreeable."

Jani tried to laugh, but seemed to lose focus halfway in and just whimpered slightly. For a moment he just looked at her, and there was something sad in his eyes Elsa couldn't quite find words to ask about.

Instead, she picked up his free hand, his scarred hand, and softly ran the edge of her lips against the raised marks, feeling every ridge and line with the sensitive flesh of her mouth. His eyes closed slightly, like a cat being petted, lost in the sensation.

"What are you thinking?" she asked after a while, his fingers still pressed to her face.

The look in his eyes clarified into something bittersweet. "I adore you." he admitted, looking away. "But I don't know if I can keep you."

Elsa softly lowered Jani's hand, leaning in to place another, brief kiss on her suitor's lips. "I wish I could tell you what's going to happen. I really do. But it's so new, and... I feel like I'm walking through mist. I feel _things_ , but I have no names for them and it's as if they're shapeless, and I'm so..." She shook her head, hugging herself anxiously.

The crow lord nodded. "Oh, damn it." He smiled, more kindly than earlier. "I shouldn't be angry at you. I'm not even sure if I am, really. Just scared, and... I haven't adjusted to you existing. Being a part of my world. I don't have my balance yet."

"That's what I mean", Elsa agreed. "This is so new and... intense..." She realised she was repeating herself and stopped. Sometimes he thoroughly robbed her of the capacity for intelligent conversation.

"What was it, anyway?" Jani grimaced. "Barely intended. And I've heard worse. Much worse."

Elsa felt a pang of memory. She let her fingertips slid down to where the worn leather of his jacket folded into the crook of his elbow. Where he had shown her the marks, with a kind of brutal nonchalance she suspected he saved for the things he could not joke about.

"Tell me. Please."

So she asked him, knowing she would not enjoy the tale. But if he aired a wound, perhaps it might heal cleaner.

Jani closed his eyes, and took a couple of breaths. "It was another time. There were a few. Sometimes they'd be okay, you know? Father. Mother. There were good times too, even after... I'd think they were mellowing. Then some new idea would come to them. A wise-woman, an old book, a outlander doctor they'd heard some rumour of..."

. .

* * *

" _You can't be... no, this isn't happening, right? "Janna gripped the bars of the cell door window, trying to recognise the face of her father in the torchlight. Tears of confusion and shock clouded her vision, refracting the glow of her eyes and turning the world into a grimy blue blur. J_ _umalauta..._

 _Father seemed to ignore her, speaking to the new healer he'd turfed up. A paunchy, small, hairless old man, a striking contrast with the King's tall, narrow frame and tawny, but whitening beard._

" _She's just thirteen. Are you sure this will work?"_

" _Father!" Janna rattled the bars, but they were too well fixed to make much noise, so she started pounding at them, sending shocks up her arms but producing only muffled, muted thuds- it was like being trapped in a nightmare, the kind when you try to scream for help but cannot._

" _Certainly." The wise man pointed to part of the yellowed parchment he carried. "The Cleansing Famine. As the patient is starved, the fell spirit will weaken and be forced to leave the body."_

 _Voi kyrpä..._ __jumalauta..._ Trembling, not quite believing, she watched the pair head up the steps to leave the cells. They would have left before she regained her voice, only they stopped to give instructions to the guard on duty. Just as they turned again to leave she was able to blurt out a single sentence._

" _What do you want from me?"_

 _For the first time, her father seemed to acknowledge her. Turning back, he gave her a look which broke her heart for shame, and then strode away, ignoring her again. But her sharp ears still caught his muttered reply._

" _I want my daughter back."_

* * *

. .

"Ow! Cold..." Jani brushed something from his neck. It was ice, and Elsa realised that she had let a stray tear fall.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Elsa tried to clear her head, and come to terms with the story she had just heard. _Cold indeed..._ "I'd never have thought... how... long?"

"Two weeks." Jani frowned. "We don't go in for jail building much, but it still took a long time to get out. Finally gave me the motivation to really master the crow talking."

Then he chuckled, startlingly. "I went straight to the larder, pale and filthy, pulled half the food out onto the table and just ate. Like a bear. For hours. Oh, the servants did stare. I let 'em."

Elsa gripped his hand tightly. She wished she knew what to say in this situation. "What did he do? King Rikhard? Your father?" _Smooth, Elsa. Like he doesn't know whom you mean..._

"Nothing." The crow lord rolled his luminous eyes. "It was surreal, but, what could he do, without everyone knowing our dirty little scandals? A few guards sworn to silence is one thing... basically I went back to the usual routine of lessons, meals and staying out of everyone's way, and we both pretty much pretended that nothing had happened."

He paused. "Oh, and I bathed, obviously. A _lot_. And occasionally ran away, but that's a whole other thing. Look... it wasn't always bad, and I don't want people to think that about him. It's just, good people aren't always good at being parents. They can bugger things up royally and be sure as anything that they're helping. You know?"

Elsa nodded. She knew. But still...

"Thank you Jani."

He looked confused. "What for?"

She drew herself up up a bit. What had she meant? "I'm not sure. I suppose..."

 _For trusting me again._

Her heart stirred at the realisation, but she would have felt foolish explaining herself. "Oh, never mind. Forget it."

"Anyway... that other thing..." Jani propped himself up on one elbow. Their tied hands were making things difficult. Why had he done that? A Myrtle thing?

"I'd not want to put pressure on you. But know that I'm with you, Elsa. _As_ long, and _as_ far as you want to take this thing."

Then Elsa kissed him again. She couldn't help herself, really.

"Thank you, Jani", she murmured into the sweetness of his perfect mouth, noting the florals already seeping into the piny smoke of his scent. "I... you know, I think we can get through this. But we need to talk to each other."

Jani snorted. "Yeah... that's never been my thing."

"Nor mine." Elsa considered. "But I'm learning, slowly."

Feeling bold, she placed the palm of her hand over Jani's heart, careful not to put pressure on the bindings. It raced, hot and rapid. She could feel every pounding beat, so vividly she almost fancied she could hear their rhythm. Knowing the effect of their... bind... was mutual made it easier, somehow.

She looked at their hands, snared by a strip of cloth. _Was that it?_

"Your Majesty? Oh..." Gerda had arrived with provisions. Elsa froze, mortified. "Would you like me to come back?"

Elsa jumped to her feet, or tried to; with one of her hands still bound to Jani, she ended up catapulting herself back onto him in a way which probably looked even more compromising than before, while knocking the wind out of him with a yelp. _Well, serves him right_.

Brushing a stray lock back against her head, she looked up at Gerda, blushing. "We... well we... just had a bit of a fight. I mean an argument. I mean... it's nothing."

Gerda smiled slyly, leaving the food on a convenient rock and making to head back to the baggage. "I'm sure. Well whatever it was, I can see you ended up on top, at least."

She strolled off, looking more openly amused than decorum decreed a servant of the Crown should. Jani pulled himself up, rubbing his chest. "Was that innuendo? I can't tell with you people..."

Elsa shuddered. "I'd rather not think about it."

She raised her hand, still attached to his by the rag.

"I think I understand."

"Oh?"

"We're not annoyed each other, but at our situation. It entangles us both, but we're in it together. Right?"

Jani paused. "Um, sure?"

Elsa smiled. It felt like they'd made some progress. "Now, _please_ , untie us. Before the whole camp turn up to watch."

Then he laughed, and she did too, a little. But then she _did_ insist Jani detach them- it _really_ wasn't a scene Elsa could have borne Anna showing up and seeing. Or Olaf. Heavens...

Propriety. Standards. Modesty. They were hard masters, sometimes. But what her sister often seemed to forget was that they defined the royal image more than any crown. And royalty _was_ image.

Pappa's lessons echoed in her mind. _Eventually, a King who acts as he pleases isn't really a King any more. That also goes for Queens. Step too far from what your people expect of you, and the magic is broken._

 _So how far is too far, Pappa? God, I miss your advice._

Elsa returned to her horse with a lot on her mind.

 _Wait..._

 _He adores me..._

. .

* * *

. .

Jani looked over to Elsa, gracefully perched on her snow white mare. Graceful no matter what she did. He had a lot on his mind, too.

It wasn't talking about Father that had done it, although it put him in a weird mood as always. He wasn't sure what to do with all those feelings yet.

Nor was it the cold. The air had real bite to it, mind, now they were ascending into the mountains proper, and in spite of his earlier stoicism he was wishing he had a scarf. And some woolens.

And some thicker gloves. Although again, that wasn't what preoccupied him as he stared down at his hands, firmly gripping the reins as his mount tramped steadily but far less elegantly over the rocky ground.

 _Why the hell did I tie us together?_

 _Perkele... I am so weird._

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes**

Gettin' to know you,  
Gettin' to know all about you.  
Gettin' to like you,  
Gettin' to hope you like me...


	43. Chapter 43- Obedience Classes

CHAPTER 43- Obedience Classes

* * *

. .

Jani nodded, pointing to the south. "Just on the other side of those mountains."

"And we'll be home..." Anna grinned, her optimistic spirit easily buoyed. Olaf joined in with his own cry of "Home...", and that set off the bear cub, who started yelping happily in time as Anna repeated the call of "Home..." over and over again.

Before it turned into an impromptu song, Jani coughed loudly, and looked over at Elsa. She was watching the jagged range to the south carefully.

"That's the North Mountain."

"Eh? We're still going south."

She shook her head. "No, I mean that peak, there." She pointed. "We call it the North Mountain. Relative, I suppose. Marshmallow lives there." She clearly saw the blank expression on Jani's face, as she immediately offered more information. "Olaf's... 'brother' is called Marshmallow. The second being I made. Another snowman- only bigger."

Jani looked at Olaf, who was now entertaining the cub by fastening his arms to his arse and juggling his head and body. It wasn't going smoothly, but the little beast seemed to like it. "How much bigger?"

Elsa thought for a second. "Around fifteen feet high and maybe twelve across?"

"And is he..." Jani nodded over to Olaf, who had dropped his head _and_ chest down a slope and was trying to feel for them with his butt-body hands, "... like _that_?"

The Queen laughed. "Whatever do you mean? No, he's... quiet. Mostly he just likes to sit up there by himself, although he seems to appreciate when we visit. Especially Olaf- he really brings out Mallow's sense of fun. They're good for each other, I think."

Jani listened to Elsa speaking warmly about her creations with interest. It was another side to her. The maternal. It warmed him in a different way to her anger, or the brief flashes of desire she allowed herself to express through that armour of courtly modesty. It also troubled him, as the issue of motherhood was one they had yet to speak of, and was troubling enough in its own right. But they would have to come to it, whether early or late.

It occurred to Jani, not for the first time, that he might be making a complete wreck of Elsa's life just being around.

 _Why did I tie us together?_ He was still trying to put a finger to that impulse. He'd been angry and scared, but desperate that she shouldn't walk out. And his hands had moved impulsively, of their own accord- he had warned Elsa about that- but not to violence, thank God. Just some bizarre knot game she had fortunately seen the funny side of.

Then he noticed that Elsa's expression grew thoughtful. Her smile had faded. It did that too quickly, too often.

"What's wrong?"

Elsa looked back towards the mountains. "At this distance, if Arendelle were burning, do you think we would be able to see it?"

Dead silence.

Everyone looked dumbfounded. Off the top of his head, Jani couldn't think of a question that would have disrupted the tone of the conversation more, and that was his speciality. It was impressive- even Anna had shut up, eyes wide as saucers.

But the princess was obviously never going to be speechless for long, and a few seconds later she snapped out of it and started to protest- but Jani silenced her, addressing the Queen. A ruler _should_ mind such things. "How big is your castle?"

"Not huge..." Elsa's brow furrowed pleasingly as she calculated. "A fortified manse of partially post-and-lintel design, around three hundred feet high, within a strong defensive stone wall enclosing a little under one hundred thousand square yards."

Jani took a second to absorb that unnervingly precise answer. "So, tons and tons of wood stacked up like a massive bonfire with windows. We'd see the smoke past the horizon."

The sisters both looked a more sick than reassured- probably not used to thinking of their home in terms of flammability.

It could still happen. Ships could be crashing up against the docks right now. Myrtlemen by the hundred pouring across their neat-and-tidy city like a pack of wolves with blood between their teeth. The sisters might still see fire today.

An old and savage part of him burned with a fierce thrill at the thought of such conquest. Imagined the smoke in his nostrils, the shouts and screams ringing in pitiless ears...

But another part remembered seeing the bloodied bodies of palace guards tumbling from the windows at his feet. His desperate screams as Rinne grabbed him by the arms and pulled him back into the shadows, when he'd recognised the head mounted over the city gate...

A hand on his reins pulled him back into the present. "I'm sorry", said Elsa. Her blue eyes understood, or seemed to.

 _You'll never have to feel that way. Not you, Elsa. I swear_.

Jani tried to look determined. "It's no matter, I'm fine."

He pointed in another direction. "Don't look _too_ far off- you might miss what's near at hand. See that?"

They had made good progress, in spite of Olaf- who had more-or-less put himself back together now. A large, icy mass off ahead of them spread translucent wings and roared.

The dragon.

Anna gasped. Elsa said nothing, but swallowed, as if anxious. Olaf cheered. The little bear yawned. Jani _briefly_ considered telling Gerda that bears were entirely edible, especially when young. Actually... at this point the Arendelle folk would probably believe him.

The ice monster took off and sailed through the air, landing with a crunch on an outcropping not far from them. Frozen scales glimmered like shattered glass in the pale mountain sun.

"Curious... but cautious?"

Jani shrugged. "That would be my guess."

Elsa half closed her eyes. "No... I mean I think I can tell. She's grown..."

She had. _She? Okay..._

 _. ._

The Queen then ordered everyone to stay a sensible distance back, so as not to spook the beast as she approached it. Looking at the fearsome creation- its eyes black pits in its colossal head, icicle spines gleaming sharply in the cold mountain sun- no one needed much convincing. Anna had a firm grip on the little bear, although the idea of it frightening a dragon was so comical that Jani would have smiled if he were not so...

It had easily doubled in size. She looked so _small_ , standing in front of it. Raising itself up, it stood ten feet at the shoulder, and cast a rearing shadow over the Queen as she looked up at it, blinking.

 _She's barely a mouthful. Oh God, no. It wouldn't._

 _She can control it. Can't she?_

Jani realised he was holding his breath. He glanced over to Anna, seeing the same dread in her eyes.

The dragon's wings rustled as it shifted them about, its icy scales grinding together in a deep susurrus, like fresh powder sloughing off a snowdrift in a winter gale. Like a growl in the back of the throat. Like the grumbling of a deep belly...

Why had they let her go up to the beast alone? Well, in theory she should be safe. Jani had said so himself, and now wished to God he'd kept his trap shut. Why was he so full of shit sometimes?

 _No, you're being irrational._

 _I should be there at her side._

 _To do what?_

 _Face it, you're helpless. What happens happens. You can't play the hero for her.  
_

 _But it's my thing..._

Elsa stepped closer to the dragon. "Hello?"

The dragon took a step toward her in turn. Jani actually felt the _crunch_ of its heavy footfall through the soles of his boots.

 _Have a little faith. She isn't her sister- this isn't some damn fool impulse._

Of course, there _was_ the time she had jumped on the dragon and been carried off into the depths of the High Forest... Jani felt perspiration on his brow, in spite of the chilly mountainside and the freezing gusts issuing from Elsa's colossal creation.

Elsa drew herself up and managed to look fairly authoritative, though Jani couldn't help but notice how tightly her fists were balled.

He also noted that the translucent wings of the dragon were only connected to its body by a couple of thick ice spokes. A potential vulnerability, if the scene should turn nasty. _You're not taking her off again, you spiky bastard_.

"I don't think we got off to the best start", Elsa continued. The dragon growled, seeming unimpressed.

"Nonetheless, we're travelling under difficult conditions, and as your Queen I require you to behave, and make yourself useful."

She took another step, and the dragon reared up, perturbed. Jani's hand tightened around Snake's hilt, but he didn't draw just yet.

"None of that!" Elsa's voice had taken on that 'stressed-out babysitter' tone, as she put it. Jani tried to keep focus. The Queen pointed to the ground. "Sit, now! And don't move until I say so."

 _Paska... she thinks it's a dog!_

The dragon certainly seemed to disagree, roaring, and shaking its blue-white wings. The icicle spikes along its length rattled and resounded deafeningly. Elsa bowed a little under the sensory onslaught, but when she looked up, there was anger in her eyes.

"That will not do!" She pointed to the ground again, stamping her foot.

"I said **SIT**."

There was something about the final syllable of her command that had a profound effect on the dragon. And everyone- Jani swore he felt it reverberate in his kidneys. Elsa herself jumped a little, making the final 't' sound a bit like a hiccup. The monster cringed like a scolded pup, and, creakingly, awkwardly, got down on its belly.

The party were speechless. Jani blinked. He had never been so surprised to be right about something.

The strange scene continued for several more minutes. Elsa seemed to be working out how to issue silent commands, getting the beast to raise one wing, then the other, and so on.

 _She's teaching her tricks. Sink me, maybe she IS a dog._

Jani was surprised to find himself empathising with the dragon, which had a real long-suffering expression on its face as it clove to its mistress' peculiar game of charades. An hour ago, it probably hadn't expected to end its day in thrall to Queen Elsa's desires. _Déjà vu_...

Bound to her will.

Tying of hands...

Connections finally started to form in Jani's head.

 _As long and as far as you want..._

 _Shit._

Jani's hand went to his face. _Damn you, subconscious...we're meant to be going slow..._

He lost his train of thought when, suddenly, a small figure darted past him and dove in the general direction of the dragon, wrapping itself around an available foreleg with a squeal of delight.

"Welcome back! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs."

The entire assembled crowd could only gawk, open-mouthed, at the sight of a small snowman trying to cuddle a monster.

His new sibling looked down at him in alarm for a second, then, casually, swiped his head off.

. .

* * *

. .

"What are we going to call it?" asked Anna, reaching out to touch their new pet on the nose. _Ow!_ Its scales stung like cold fire- she pulled her fingers back and sucked on them sheepishly.

Elsa tutted thoughtfully. She was sat neatly on top of the dragon's shoulder-blades, as it lay sprawled across a few hundred square feet of frozen rock like a cat snoozing in front of a fire. The cold didn't bother _her_ , anyway.

Nor Olaf, who had recovered from having his head bounced down the mountainside like a football and was busy regaling the dragon with stories about how fantastic, but _hot_ , summer was down in Arendelle.

It was absolutely _freezing_ so high up- even with the sun on them. And several times Anna had caught herself breathing heavily- vapour puffing from her nostrils in tiny bursts. Was the air a little thin up here?

She looked down the mountainside behind them- winding trails of rocks and scruffy trees, slowly merging with the dense, dark greens of true forest. _Still, nice view_.

"We still haven't a name for your bear, you know..." Elsa reminded her.

 _Huh_ , she was right. Anna picked him up from Gerda's lap and gave him a squeeze. His soft brown fur smelt of acorns and... _slightly_ of bear poop. "It's hard to pick just one."

"It would save on the baby talk," Jani cut in, that way he did. "Today it's been Shmookums, Fuzzle Wuzzle, Floofsicle..."

 _Hey, I was quite proud of 'Floofsicle'..._ Anna frowned, annoyed. "Uh, the dragon, though? It seems like a priority. Olaf has a name, Marshmallow does. Their thousand or so siblings... _apparently_ all have names..."

Jani looked up at Elsa. Anna could have sworn he was paler than usual. "Thousands?"

 _Maybe the idea of being stepfather to a thousand ice monsters is a lot to take in? Go figure_. _Wait... did I just think 'stepfather'? Slow down your horses, there, girl..._

Elsa sighed. "It's complicated, but essentially..."

It _wasn't_ complicated, so Anna decided to answer for her. "She got a cold, and all her sneezes came to life as tiny snowmen."

"Really?"

Elsa nodded, conceding that it was a pretty accurate summary of that day. "Well, this dragon needs a name."

She scratched behind a scale of the beast's neck. It purred gently. _Definitely_ tame, now. "What was the name of the stream I made her from?"

"It doesn't have a name." The crow lord shrugged his hunched shoulders, hugging his coat against his body. He was finally feeling the cold. "It's just a little tributary- there's thousands."

"Well, 'Stream' is a terrible name. 'River' might be..."

 _Well, we can't call it- Oh!_

"What about we just call her Tributary?" Anna suggested. "It's easy to remember, and sounds kind of important, and we could call her 'Trib' for short..."

"No!" Jani and Gerda both answered, a little too loudly and quickly. Maybe it meant something horrible in that Marsher tongue he and the other Myrtlemen were always cussing in?

"Why not?" Elsa asked as she dismounted carefully, gathering her hem in one hand and scooting down the dragon's scaly side.

Jani went from pale to pink, looking around at everyone. Well, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Gerda, and little Floofsicle, who were the only ones still nearby, and not keeping a safe distance from the mountainous ice monster.

Gerda made a quick exit, scooping the baby bear out of Anna's arms and muttering something about feeding him. And 'young ears'.

"Well?"

"Um..." Jani leaned in close to Elsa, looking adorably awkward. " _Ita... 'tribadism' erit cum confricabimus... partes..._ "

Wait... what was that? Anna tried to figure out what he was saying. _Something, something... party?_

"When we... Oh!" Elsa stammered, blushing like a strawberry. "Oh! _Oh_... perhaps not, then."

 _Aw... it must have been something 'interesting'._ How had Jani guessed that only one of them spoke dead languages?

" _Sciesne multas linguas_?"

Now Elsa was doing it. _Oh, sugar..._

Jani grinned rogueishly. Was that a word? " _Q_ _uadringenti anni multaque bellae. Scilicet._ "

Elsa smiled sweetly back. It was the nerdiest flirting Anna had _ever_ seen. " _Wirklich?_ _Was sage ich jetzt?_ "

And that strange, tangle-haired Myrtleman just laughed.

" _Ah, G_ _eliebte- Das ist viel zu einfach..._ "

Anna's eyes brightened. _Wait, I actually know a bit of-_

 _"Почему не что-то более сложным? Так как вы умный..."_

 _Darn it_. She gritted her teeth. This was going to be unbearable.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Okay, translations... Jani has to explain what tribadism is to Elsa in a fairly basic manner. Her sex ed has been fairly breeding-focused, for obvious reasons.

While his explanation is on the surface very simple, there is actually a flirt built in. Latin is the basal Romance language , and doesn't move into a general present for predictions as in English. "When I arrive, I will explain" is good English, but the equivalent Latin would literally translate "When I _will_ arrive, I will explain".

Anyway, Jani's explanation uses the future tense throughout. He doesn't say "When we (i.e. people like us) do such-and-such, it is tribadism". He says "When we (i.e. specifically we) _will_ do such-and-such, it _will_ be tribadism". It's not a generalisation. It's a promise.

If my Latin teachers knew I'd one day be using their lessons to contrive gay innuendo... actually, they might approve.

Elsa, once recovered, then asks him if he knows many languages. He points out that four hundred years of crow lords raiding places means that yes, obviously he does. Then they just show off to each other. "Ah, too easy darling. Why not something more challenging? Since you're the smart one."


	44. Chapter 44- Sabotage and Ambuscade

CHAPTER 44- Sabotage and Ambuscade

* * *

. .

"Move your scally arse!" spat the taller man, under his breath.

"Bung your 'ole, this is heavy..." His companion grunted, as they shifted the brimming barrel along the narrow alley. "If this were beer..."

The first man snorted, eyeing the ooze of black tar seeping around the edges of the lid. "If this were beer, we woulda drunk it. _Him Indoors_ wants flash, so he's getting flash." The natural leader of the two, he was a heavyset gorilla of a man, with a heavy, stubbly chin he constantly picked at.

It took another half hour to manoeuvre the stolen pitch barrel to the highest point of the Tanny, Myrtle's industrial district. Only it wasn't the first they had pinched.

"Sink me..." The shorter man covered his face with a stained handkerchief to block out the smell from the leather shops. He looked down the crooked steps of the lane at the object of their attentions. "Won't we need sails once we 'ave a king again?"

"Bugger that. The Protector gets slowed down, we build up again after." The big man scratched at his stubble, savouring the moment as he looked over the stock of pilfered barrels they had lined up.

Neither of them had much noticed the king when he was alive. Bread, boots, a bed to sleep in- these factored more heavily into their daily lives. But, _shit_ , crows in the air screaming a woman's name? That _apparition_ down in Larkspur? Some portents any man could read. The country itself wanted Kaarlo gone, and that was that. This was Myrtle. Let outlanders shiver and hide indoors when there was warring to be done.

His companion fiddled in the dark with a tinderbox, eventually striking and lighting up the drooping roll-up he held in his mouth. Examining his blackened fingers by tobacco-light, he wiped them roughly on his shirt. "Did we really have to do the deer ten feet wide? It took another hour."

The other man ignored him. Choosing his moment, he kicked the first barrel down the steps. It bounced, skidded, and rolled down the incline, swerving like a scurvy drunk, until it smashed itself to kindling against the timber wall of the sailcloth workhouse, splashing it with tarry pitch.

Lugging all those barrels uphill was already feeling worthwhile.

Even in the generalised cawing, baying cacophony of the Myrtlean night they didn't have all that long before the crashing noises attracted the suspicions of the guard, or worse, Kaarlo's soldiers, so they kicked off the next, then the next- until the west wall of the factory was drenched in oozing blackness, with pieces of shattered barrel poking like flotsam out of the mire.

The leader of the pair plucked the roll-up from his friend's mouth and lit the rag of the oil lamp he was holding. It stirred into bright, golden-orange flame; dropping it into the remaining barrel with a crash, he tipped it onto its side and lined it up carefully, like a bowler.

" _Tulkaa Myrtilaiset_ , _m_ _e ruokkia lintuja,_ mate. Here's our bit for king and bloody country."

He turned to his companion and shook his stained hand. The shorter, older man grinned with yellowish teeth.

"We destroy."

"Bloody right we do."

A kick, and a flaming barrel careened down a night time path, colliding with a lake of sticky tar which ignited like a match. The flash was blinding. By the time the guard responded there was nothing to be done.

. .

Another workhouse burned in the Tanny, flax and worked sailcloth feeding the flames that rose like a colossal, orange finger jutting into the night sky. Sulo watched the conflagration grimly from his window. The Lord Protector would not be pleased.

His agents had already confirmed that the culprits had fled the scene, but there was no mistaking the intent. They had left a calling card. Above the warehouse, a crude figure had been painted onto a stone wall with pitch, and set ablaze.

The figure of a reindeer.

He shuddered. This rebellion had grown too large. It already had mythology. As if the spirit realm cared who sat on the throne.

Still. Raiders had already started snaring merchantmen, and soon they would be ready to commit full flotillas to the waves. Foreign gold would quickly silence the idle malcontent.

Soon enough. Soon enough.

. .

* * *

. .

Gerda hurried up to where the Queen had taken a seat. Princess Anna had bounced up and told her that she was wanted, but hadn't said why. Then bounced away again. This was very much normal behaviour. The princess was always more into doing than thinking. Quite the opposite of her elder sister, dear thing.

She was relieved that Elsa wasn't astride her rather intimidating dragon any more. Or even her horse- which seemed far more practical for everyday use. But she seemed nervous, and that was concerning, although she was an incurable fretter and always had been. Was it any wonder, though? The poor love must be so confused right now...

"My Queen? We've given the horses the grass bundles we gathered. They're feeding now."

"That's good..." Elsa composed herself carefully. "Gerda, I think it's time we spoke properly."

This was an ominous opening sentence to hear from an employer, royal or otherwise, and put Gerda on the defensive. "Is there... if there is anything I or the other staff should be doing, we would only be-"

Elsa stopped her with a hand gesture. "No, it's fine. You've all done incredibly, keeping us fed and everything together. And I know it's not what you were planning on from this trip. I'm very thankful. And so is Anna."

The Queen was silent for a moment, rubbing her arms in the way she did when she was particularly tense. Gerda waited for her to voice her thoughts.

"I've known you all my life. I need to know where I stand, Gerda, and I also need... advice. I need to talk about all this with someone more experienced than my sister."

Gerda chuckled. "You mean someone old."

"Only insofar as that means more experience", replied Queen Elsa, always more precise than diplomatic.

The _mature_ maidservant had an inkling that the advice she wanted might be unsuitable for some ears. Gerda looked around. Anna, Olaf and Elsa's... companion had clearly been told to pass the time elsewhere. Only the dragon was near, ten feet away, lazily contemplating the middle distance with eyes half open. She wasn't sure it could understand them anyway.

"Well, my Queen. We're alone, with as much privacy as we can hope for. What did you want to talk about?"

. .

* * *

. .

Anna fell to her knees, her breath turning to a laboured wheeze far sooner than she had been expecting. Her red cheeks seemed to burn in the freezing air. With one hand she clutched at her solar plexus as she gasped for oxygen; with the other, still doggedly clutching the hilt of her sword, she held herself roughly upright. Her opponent raised his sword to his face and smirked.

"You know, this could wait until we _aren't_ so far above sea level."

"No!" Anna managed to pull herself to her feet somehow- maybe through the sheer power of Jani's annoyingness. Was that a word? "I'm fine. And now is perfect-" She prodded her several layers of clothing- "So much padding! Don't... actually try to hurt me though."

Jani shrugged. "Well, we have time before the horses can continue. And it is my responsibility I suppose, since these tough lads won't train with you any more." He pointed his cutlass at Odd and Roar, the two younger Myrtlemen, who were watching them spar along with Edvin- the old crow keeper guy that Janna hadn't killed. That _Jani_ hadn't... how did talking about the past work? Anyhoo, they were the only other Myrtleans still around, after that awful battle. And the trial. And the ferryman and his son heading back home.

"It's not our fault, sir", complained Odd, a weedy, knobbly sort of boy who seemed to be younger than Anna. "She's... really violent." Edvin poured some foul-looking liquid into a mug and handed it to him. He downed it in one and shuddered.

"She poked me in the eye!" Roar added, even though he was six feet tall, built like a muscular barrel, and had recently helped her slay a bear. "Really hard..." he muttered into his drink.

"That was basically an accident", Anna insisted, not quite truthfully.

" _Voi_... Do you know how hard it is to scare Myrtleans?" The crow lord rolled his eyes in exasperation. "We learnt to fight off wolves as little pokers, but one carrot-top princess and the national reputation goes down the shitter. There's something not quite normal about you..."

He suddenly glanced over to where Elsa sat. She had arranged some kind of sit down with Gerda, politely shooing everyone else away, hence their impromptu sparring session. They were still talking, and it looked pretty intense.

"Oh, I'm sure it's _all_ about you", Anna teased, predicting what Jani was probably thinking.

Jani sniffed like a snob, jokingly in a way which _almost_ convinced her he wasn't nervous. "But _naturally._ Do you see a more interesting topic of conversation anywhere around?"

"They're sitting next to a dragon, sir." Odd announced. He offered Anna a mug of the Myrtlean brew they were passing around. She wrinkled her nose and waved it away- she could smell the fumes at an arm's length.

Jani laughed. "Fair point. Still..." He resumed his fighting stance. "We do need to work on your defence."

"Too right", Roar agreed. "She's taking more jabs than Odd's mother."

Anna gave Odd her best 'Please explain this?' face. Unfortunately he responded.

"Oh, it's 'cause my Mam's a whore."

Anna just stood there for a second. Jani jabbed at her side again, until she remembered her own sword and batted his away. "What?"

"People pay her money, and then she-"

"No! I mean..." Anna tried to collect her thoughts. "I know what it _is_ , just.. doesn't it bother you?"

Odd shrugged his narrow shoulders. "It's what you're used to. And she's the best drab on the street. Everyone says."

Old Edvin started to take an interest. "What's her name?"

"Viivi, when she's working. Lovise, really."

The mail officer's lined faced worked about as he perused his memory.

"Second terrace back from the docks? Dyes her hair black?"

"That's her!" Odd laughed, apparently unfazed by the extreme wrongness of the whole conversation.

Jani's sword swung an inch from her nose, reminding her that she was meant to be sparring.

"Do you really not have this in Arendelle?" asked Roar, suspiciously.

"No!" Anna answered instinctively, then thought. "Well... there are places, supposedly, where that sort of thing might go on..."

"But everyone pretends it doesn't?" Jani sneered, catching and deflecting her thrust, countering with a jab at her shoulder with his free hand. Not hard enough to bruise but enough to hurt. "Invisible whores, who stay out of sight of the nice shiny Arendelle people? Upstanding noblemen strutting around clean like they're holier than God's toilet, while all the dirt and disrepute clings to the poor drab who has to sell her _dignity_ to keep bread on her table?" The crow lord seemed to be angry at something- his eyes were flaring into blue flame again. "Am I getting warm, princess?"

Anna didn't know quite how to respond to Jani's sudden bursts of energy and wordiness, and retreated before his next two strikes, trying to gather herself.

" _Perkele_ , girl, don't annoy a Crow Lord..." Edvin sipped his moonshine wearily.

 _Does Elsa not find the glowing eyes spooky? And a little, you know, intimidating?_ She swallowed. "I... don't... know?"

Jani paused. He rolled his eyes and stepped back a little, maybe sensing he'd gone too far. "Okay, _that_ wasn't fair... But neither's whoring. It's often enough a way for men to show women how _owned_ they are. Not to mention it's a miserable sodding job- sometimes literally. Does it really make things better treating those poor girls like lepers?"

"I guess not", admitted Anna, keen to just _change the subject_ already. And maybe put the sparring session on hold after all, until her instructor was a bit mellower.

But... she had never really thought about _those_ women before. Should she have? Had Elsa? She was reminded of a lesson their father had once given them.

 _Royalty face responsibilities no common man must bear. But remember my daughters- there is no stress or burden so great that you will not seem the luckiest women alive to one who has not eaten today. You will never know true want. And for that I am thankful beyond words..._

And Elsa thought she didn't listen... Well, sometimes that was true. But Elsa listened _too_ much, and shouldered too much for one person, even a Queen.

"How are things progressing?"

 _Oh, there she is_. Anna turned, seeing her sister clambering up to meet them. Thank God, Jani was always so puppyish with her sister around.

"We're taking a break now." Anna said firmly, rubbing a fresh bruise which was forming along a floating rib. Well, she had known swordplay was a rough sport, but Jani struggled to be gentle when he started to lose his cool. Maybe practice today _was_ a bad idea.

The two sweethearts faced each other, and Anna realised that Elsa was carrying something- a package wrapped up in paper, in Arendelle colours.

"We brought gifts for your family..." Elsa bashfully began, as if she had to apologise for offering him a present, "but they ended up in the wagon with everything else after..." She paused. " _After_. But I remembered this was one of them, and, I wanted you to have it."

Jani's eyes lit up, and he ripped greedily into the paper parcel. Anna was just the same with presents; while Elsa would always unstick and unfold the packaging step by step, never so much as tearing it.

It was a scarf. That was... very practical.

Jani unfolded the piece of clothing, discarding the wrapping, and inspected it with admiring eyes. It _was_ pretty gorgeous- a combination of imported silk and fine lambswool, with printed rosemaling in black and blue. Along the border were tiny Arendelle crocuses, picked out in silver embroidery.

The crow lord opened and shut his mouth a few times before managing to make actual words. Anna decided that any gift that could make him shut up had to be worth the expense.

"I, um, I don't have anything for you..."

Elsa smiled the warmest of smiles, the way only she and Mamma could.

"That's okay, Jani. Do you like it?"

"Do I like it? I love it, thank you! It's freezing up here..." Jani tied the blue scarf around his neck and smoothed it down.

"It's perfect," he sighed happily, and, taking Elsa's hand, knelt and kissed it like a prince. "Again, thank you, _kultani_."

No one could hate this, could they? It was so sweet and normal. Elsa had to be letting her fears run away with her again.

The Myrtlemen sniggered at the Queen's blushes. They apparently found this all more amusing that shocking. Jani waggled a finger. "Hey! Don't make me hurt you."

He turned back to Elsa. "So, what were you and Gerda-"

An ear-splitting, screeching, howling, grinding noise exploded all around them.

It was so loud it seemed to come from everywhere.

It was like a hurricane, like ice floes crashing together, like...

Like terror. Like when Olaf was...

Her ears popped. Clearer now. The scream was coming from the dragon.

Rushing over to the ledge that overlooked the baggage and horses, Anna, Elsa, and the others saw the monster rear up defensively, icicle scales crashing against each other, Olaf clinging to her neck for dear life. Her screaming roar lowered to a long growl, laced with the promise of violence.

Jani took one look around them, and turned the air blue in two languages. Odd whimpered. Edvard held his crows close.

Then Anna saw what they and the dragon had seen, and nearly screamed too.

She turned to Jani. "There aren't enough of us..." He winced, agreeing.

All around them, shuffling shapes drew in, hazy in the sudden, unseasonable mist which had fallen over the mountainside. Dead teeth gnashed at the chill air. Withered limbs creaked and tensed.

An _army_ of draugs.

And they had needed to run for their lives from _two_...

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Well, Merry Christmas to all. Thanks to everyone who is still reading this monster of a story, and I hope 2017 is a great year for you.

 _Tulkaa Myrtilaiset_ , _m_ _e ruokkia lintuja:_ Come, Myrtlemen, we're feeding the birds! _  
_


	45. Chapter 45- Visitors

CHAPTER 45- Visitors

* * *

. .

No Anna. No Sven. No news...

Kristoff raised the mug of ale unsteadily to his lips and drained it in one smooth, practised action. It was a waste of the best brew in Arendelle, but he needed to steady his nerves. He belched, remembering to cover his mouth. Anna's influence.

No one had seen a reindeer for quite a time- at least, not one like Sven. A few other Sami kept them, but _they_ were all ear-marked and accounted for. He had asked the guard to keep an eye out; meanwhile he had to try to keep his mind off where his best friend could be. If lost, Sven could easily survive off the land, but wolves, bandits...

Anna's last letter had been a comfort- they were all together and planning to cross over the mountains. But so much could go wrong, and there was so much danger _she'd_ never think to write about because she never looked out for it. He stared at the bottom of his tankard- he needed another pint. But really he needed Anna to be back. Right now. Safe and in his arms, being told how missed she was, how needed...

He pulled himself to his feet, feeling the dim interior of the inn swirl about him far more than it should have after just one. _That_ was lack of sleep. He'd cajoled, begged, and just plain frustrated Kai into taking on a lot of general palace duties, but between running his ice business, keeping up with Elsa's endless paperwork, and dealing with the dignitaries who had already arrived at the palace for the emergency talks, their upcoming wedding, or both... it was still too much. And at least two ships had gone missing, too.

He stepped up to the bar, trying to look alert enough to serve. A young man in blue was sitting on a stool near the casks; recognising Kristoff, he laughed and beckoned him over.

"Sir Eugene?"

The foreigner had wavy brown hair, a small and vaguely annoying beard, and lounged across his seat with a kind of scruffy, carefree charm which Kristoff didn't know quite whether to admire or distrust. They had met late the previous evening, when the royal party from Corona had arrived slightly behind schedule, but Kristoff had missed him at breakfast.

"Hi, nice to see a familiar face", remarked Eugene, although Kristoff wasn't _that_ familiar. Still, he refilled the iceman's ale mug from a full, foaming pitcher that sat on his table, and Kristoff had spent too much of his life poor to turn down free beer. The Corona royal consort gestured to the stool which didn't have his booted feet resting on it.

Kristoff sat, looking around. "I don't see the princess."

"Oh, she's helping with wedding business." Eugene shuddered. He emptied his mug. Kristoff did the same.

. .

 **An hour later...**

"It's not going to be as bad as you think, don't worry about it."

"Who said I'm worried?" Kristoff sipped his ale.

"Well, you're not crazy, unless I've missed something. Unlike this family we've both agreed to marry into." The Coronan looked into the distance, thinking about something. Kristoff had heard that he was actually a reformed thief. He certainly looked like one, although the 'reformed' had a question mark hanging over it as far as many were concerned.

Probably why he preferred slumming in cheap inns to sitting around in the palace. Well, it wasn't like Kristoff couldn't say the say of himself. Here they both were, after all...

"Look, I was in your position a couple of years back", Eugene continued, slurring his words a little. "Looking at myself, just some nobody that this princess, this _incredible_ girl I loved when I thought she was just a witch's slave, _somehow_ loved me back. _Me_. A pretender. A con act. A petty criminal. And Rapunzel could have had anyone she wanted, I mean- you've seen her, she-" He stopped himself, and cleared his throat.

He tapped at the table with his finger to reinforce his point, nearly knocking over one of the empty ale pitchers collecting between them. "What I'm saying is, don't overthink it. Sometimes you win the jackpot. Some people won't like it, and maybe you'll look at her some days and think inside, 'Why me? I don't deserve her'." He patted his chest demonstratively. "I sure do. And that feeling doesn't really go away. But that's okay. Maybe, if we were princes, we'd feel like we _did_ deserve a princess." He drained his mug, and refilled it. "And then we might not treat them so well."

Kristoff growled. "Yeah- the guy she was with before, you wouldn't believe..."

Eugene laughed. "Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, who has been mucking out their royal stables for the past year? Oh yeah."

"Really?" Kristoff brightened a little. His drinking companion nodded conspiratorially.

"I handle... _discreet_ lines of intelligence for Corona. He's still in hot water, likely to be the family whipping boy for years to come. They're merciless, those brothers of his, and hate to be embarrassed."

The ice master smiled, genuinely, for what felt like the first time in days.

"Tell me more..."

. .

 **At _least_ another hour later...  
**

"Now, don't tell just anyone", Kristoff warned, holding himself steady against the table.

"My lips are sealed", Eugene assured him. His face was plastered with the silly grin of the thoroughly pickled. And also beer froth. And bits of the pie they had shared to soak up the ale.

"Well. They aren't alone." He leaned in, lowering his voice. "They have the princess of Myrtle with them."

Sir Eugene's eyes widened. " _Woah_. They're still looking for her in the city." He shrugged at Kristoff's surprise. "Told you. Discreet intelligence. Emphasis on _discreet_ , meaning people tell me things and I don't tell on _them_."

He looked hard at Kristoff, and the ice master suddenly wondered if Eugene might actually be far less drunk than he had been acting. "What else aren't you saying?"

Kristoff cursed himself, feeling like an absolute village idiot. So, _he_ was to be one of those 'people who told Eugene things'!

Slow on the uptake as ever, he had really put himself on the spot. He tried to get his pounding, ale-deadened head to kick into gear, wishing he'd stopped a couple of beers, or even a couple of sentences, earlier.

 _Well, I can't tell him about the Queen's... preferences, can I? But I have to give him something, something good, or he'll know to badger me._

" _Okay_ ", Kristoff began with exaggerated reluctance, making it look good. "But this goes no further than us?"

Eugene nodded. "On my honour."

"The princess? The Myrtle princess?"

"Yeah?"

"She has powers."

"You're kidding me."

"No, that's what I'm told. She can get birds to obey her, or something like that." Kristoff shrugged vaguely. The more Eugene had to work to get useful intel from some half-literate blond oaf, the less likely he was to look for any other secrets hidden beneath.

Swallowing yet more ale, with a shake of his head, his companion whistled. "I'm starting to wonder if super powers just somehow come with being a princess. Hold on a second..." He thought hard for a moment. "What birds?"

"Crows. What else, in Myrtle?"

Eugene gave a sly smile. "That actually... Myrtle use messenger crows all over. They're how castle talks to castle, ship talks to ship... you get the picture." He rubbed his little chin beard. "Only, they've stopped. The crows are flying wild and pecking off their message bags. _Really_ slowing things down for them..."

He banged his fist on the table. "Oh, yes! This is _very_ good to know, thank you." He raised a half-empty pitcher and waved it in clumsy invitation. "One more?"

"Sir Kristoff?"

Kristoff jumped to his feet, startled by the interruption. A pair of green-coated palace guards had appeared behind him with unusual quietness. Or maybe it was the ale and tavern noise muffling everything. "Um, yes?"

The senior guardsman raised his his gloved fingers to his shako in salute. "Kai sent us to find you. He says it can't wait."

That wasn't good... Kristoff retrieved his own hat from the table mess and pressed it roughly onto his head, throwing down a few coppers for the tab. "Did he say what happened?"

"It's the Myrtle raiders, sir. They've been spotted."

Sir Eugene scrambled to get to his feet. "Where? Here? Corona?"

The guards both turned to the door and began marching, indicating that Kristoff, should follow. Of course, Sir Eugene did too.

And, once they were out of the crowded atmosphere of the tavern, following the soldiers along the neatly paved Arendelle streets towards the castle, Eugene got his answer.

"The Southern Isles, sir. A ship from Celestine said there were Myrtlemen when they tried to stop at the Southern Isles..."

That _really_ wasn't good...

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Sorry, sorry- we'll see what happens with the draugs next time, but we were due to check in on Arendelle. I think we can all agree that the sooner Elsa gets home, the better. And Anna, of course- someone has to keep Kristoff on the straight and narrow.


	46. Chapter 46- Mountain Challenges

CHAPTER 46- Mountain Challenges

* * *

. .

"It's the dragon!" Jani yelled, drawing his cutlass and loosening up his shoulder muscles.

"What are you talking about?" Anna demanded.

Elsa glanced down at her newest creation, bristling with icy spikes and screaming like a gale. She saw it too.

"He's right! Olaf and I had to go right up to their barrows to awaken them, both times. And now they're gathering en masse? She's all that's changed!"

"She's a beacon for them!" Jani caught a lone draug clambering up the sloping cliff behind them, and gave it a running kick to the teeth that sent it cartwheeling down the mountain; Elsa barely saw more than a blur of action before he was standing back at her side, snarling, eyes crackling bright and dark. It sent a familiar jolt running through her, something she didn't have time to process right now.

"I don't have to hold back any more", he tersely explained. "You have to get that thing to leave! Draw them off! Or they'll tear the others to pieces..."

The rest of the party were trapped between the wagons and the dragon's bulk, gathered together in the frail hope of strength in numbers. The one surviving Arendelle guardsman, whom Elsa found to her shame that she still could not name, was on his feet, one arm still in a sling, the other grasping a spear. None of the others were fighters- just Gerda and the handful of servants who had been chosen to join her on her trip to Myrtle, what seemed like a century ago. Elsa had a sick feeling in her stomach; she wasn't at all sure she could save them.

But she could try.

The dragon was panicking, breathing icy blasts at the draugs on the rocks above, which they mostly dodged or absorbed. A waste of energy- she had seen them absorb her icy power as if it were their own. She really _was_ a beacon; Elsa could feel the energy pulsing from her.

The creatures were clearly gathering for a charge. She had heard one speak... how clever were they?

She looked to Jani and his three Myrtlemen. One- Edvin?- too old, one too young, one big man somewhere in the middle; they were the closest thing to an army she could call upon. "I need to get to her, get her airborne..." Elsa tried to keep her breathing steady. To find that place beyond fear, which she had held herself in for a moment when she had first tamed her fantastical creature.

 _Do you mean the dragon, or Jani?_

 _Be quiet, subconscious. I'm working here..._

Jani nodded, and swung instantly into commanding mode, turning to his men. "Form up. Go along the top and harass a few of them into trying to kill you instead of the Queen, the dragon or-" He looked down the ridge. "Where _is_ Olaf?"

He shrugged. "Well, so long as he's hid. There are a good dozen of these dead bastards, and they don't get any deader without _fire_ , which we don't have time to get together. So this is _holding action._ " He gestured to the nearest two draugs. "Don't be heroes, don't let them knock you off the mountain. Just make there be fewer of them between the Queen and that big-arse lizard."

"What, Gerda?" the large one joked. Then he yelped when Anna punched him in the arm.

Jani tutted. "Never scorn a woman of experience, Roar. Odd's mam would tell you..."

 _What even..._ Elsa didn't get it.

Then the draugs began to attack in earnest, bearing down on the party with shrivelled, white fingers bared like bony claws.

Then the crow lord grabbed her hand. "Come on! We're getting you to the dragon."

They scrambled down the stones as quickly as they... as quickly as _Elsa_ could. But by the time they reached the baggage, the draugs were already among them. Three stood between her and the dragon already: Elsa's human charges were backed up against a wall of sheer rock, and some of the pale monsters were savouring a chance at cornered prey before joining the attack on the huge ice beast.

The already-wounded guardsman's spear jabbed out and caught one cleanly in the eye. It was a fine thrust, in fact, but futile. The draug laughed, in its grating, horrible fashion, and grabbed the poor man by the throat, dragging him off his feet. One of its companions was spattered with blue frost- having been struck by the dragon's breath. Now it began to grow, joints twisting and swelling and popping, turning into another giant, like the other had been. This was all too much.

Then Jani tumbled past her, weightless, like some dark, lethal feather, elegantly sweeping his sword through three pairs of ankles before the fiends could even respond. As they toppled over, screeching with fury, a score or so of crows descended on them, ripping at the withered leather of their flesh.

"Holding action", he repeated, and gestured for Elsa to follow.

"What's 'dragon' in your language?!" she shouted as she ran.

"What?" Jani looked back at her, incredulous.

"Distractions help, remember?" Elsa had to duck, as another draug dove in from her 8 o'clock, huge hands flailing clumsily.

"Fine! _Lohikäärme_!" Jani charged past her and hacked off an arm, then his seventh foot of the afternoon. Clearly he had fixed on a tactic. Elsa sidestepped the struggling thing.

"That's no good for a girl!"

She kept running towards the dragon, which was already knocking little monsters this way and that with her razor-edged tail. How had she made something so... warlike? "What about 'river'? 'Stream'?"

" _Virta_!"

"Snow?"

" _Lumi_! Ice is _jää_ , frost is _kuura_. Or _halla_ , or _routa_ , or _pakkanen_... we have a lot of words. Are we really doing this _now_?!"

"Yes! Look, we're there!" Elsa waved her hands over her head as they reached her as-yet-unnamed creation. Seeing her, she roared in some semblance of recognition and batted another draug aside with a clawed foreleg.

"Don't let them touch you!" she screamed up at the poor creature. Rosy light spread deep into the ice blue of her core; she could feel the fear radiating from it. It was making control so... much... harder.

They could drink her power, like creatures of ice themselves...

A very human cry from the rocks above suggested that one of the Myrtleans was already down. She looked up- Wait! Anna was fighting the monsters, too? She hadn't forbidden it, but... at least she was giving a good account of herself, from what Elsa could make out through the misty hanging over the crags. Giant fingers were flying in every direction as her younger sister went deep into what, in anyone other than a princess, would be termed a frothing-lipped berserk rage-coma.

She had let herself lose focus again, and a heavy arm knocked her sideways, almost cracking a rib. Jani wriggled out from underneath the attacker as twisted and flailed, teeth gnashing, trying desperately to murder them both without the advantage of forearms or lower legs. "Sorry!" he cried, and gave her a leg up onto the dragon's neck. She watched carefully to make sure he didn't see up her dress. Not that she didn't trust him.

The beast would not stop moving, lashing and swiping frantically at these strange foes which _always_ got back up again. "You have to take off!" Elsa cried. "Take off!" If she could just muster the focus to order the dragon again... "You **have** to! I mean, **take** off now!" Oh, that was close...

 _Halla, was it? Halla might work..._

Then a giant draug grasped the dragon by a limb, and though she thrashed she couldn't shake it free. Elsa's heart sank. _Time up_. Another grabbed her by the base of a wing; the translucent mica membrane dissolved like, well, ice, as it raked its claw-like fingers through it, stealing her magic. The dragon shuddered in agony.

Jani's voice... the Myrtlean was finally caught, held aloft by an undead foe bigger than Marshmallow, glistening with rime. It lifted him up, ready to bite his head off.

 _No, no, no..._ Elsa clambered back onto the crest of the dragon's spine, away from the draugs. Snow began falling, all around them.

Jani freed his arm and stabbed his sword upwards, deep into the roof of the draug's mouth. But then it bit down, hard, blood spurting out over his lipless teeth as Elsa's suitor _screamed_.

She felt so powerless. No, she felt... _robbed_ of her power. These creatures could live off it, use it for their own ends, and she couldn't...

 _Wait a minute._

Amid the terror of her situation, the howling nightmares taking bites out of the rapidly weakening ice dragon beneath her, the part of her insisting _No, Jani can't be hurt, not Jani!_ , puzzle pieces finally started to fit together.

 _Like creatures of ice themselves..._

 _Creatures of ice._

 _Your power is Winter_ , she heard Jani's voice saying. _Every thing of cold and ice is yours. It shouldn't have a choice about obeying you, any more than a tree chooses to drop its leaves_...

She looked at the draugs, and saw that every part of them was dead. Except one.

The part that was Winter.

 _They ARE creatures of cold and ice._

 _And I am their Queen._

 _I am the Snow Queen_.

Throwing herself from the back of the dragon before it could collapse under her, she cushioned her landing with an icy updraught and stood tall, amid the snow still gathering on the rocky ground, facing the abominations.

Her fists tightened.

 _And I am no longer afraid._

" **ENOUGH!** "

The draugs froze. Once again, metaphorically.

Something was changed in the world around her. The air hummed.

The snow sang.

This was... new. She had never quite managed to apply her will like this before.

Now, to use it.

" **All of you, back off**." She pointed to the draugs. " **Do not harm my children again.** "

The draugs released the poor dragon and retreated, backing away in a little huddle. The giant ones began to shrink back down. It was almost comical, only Elsa had just seen Jani... _hurt_. Perhaps badly. Right now she had no sense of humour, whatsoever.

He was on the ground, cradling his arm, watching her intently. The draug who had bitten him had _withered_ , somehow. It had returned to human size and lay quite unmoving, something black trickling from its mouth.

A question for later. A single draug had been pushed forward by the others. It was wearing a battered sallet. Perhaps helmets meant leadership among frozen undead.

Kneeling low before her, it forced out a single, rasping word through its dusty throat and tongue.

"ORDERS?"

Elsa was a little taken aback that they seemed to recognise her sovereignty, but decided to run with it. "Orders... well. Okay. **Travel far away, and do no further harm to my creatures or my companions.** " It was the best she could come up with off the top of her head.

"WHERE?"

"Um, north? Yes, **NORTH. Lots of cold, there. Avoid populated areas, try not to attract attention.** "

Her head felt heavy. Suddenly she realised that she had generated a crown of some kind. How embarrassing, she _was_ getting carried away.

The draugs were still there.

" **Is there a problem?** "

The spokesman clutched his chest. Well, more ribcage, in his case.

"SO. HUNGRY. PLEASE..."

So that was it...

She wasn't in the mood for charity. However, Elsa had to weigh her anger at the beings against her sense of responsibility, plus the question of how reliable 'hungry' monsters would be in following instructions versus 'not hungry'.

"Oh, alright then..."

She raised her hands, and let her power flow into the assembled monsters. Her power, which flowed without limit and without end. The power of Winter.

They groaned softly as their injuries stitched themselves together; their flesh seemed to fill out and solidify, although they still looked pretty corpse-ish. That frightening madness seemed to fade from their eyes.

When she cut off the flow, the draugs, now caked with hoarfrost, looked at her for a moment. Then, as one, them bowed, before they all turned and marched off. Back the way the party had come. To the North. Something about the way they trundled along in lock-step now was strangely serene. It was nice to be obeyed.

"Well, I think my ovaries just exploded."

 _Jani!_ She ran over to where he now lay. He had managed to work off his leather naval coat, and was cradling his right arm.

 _Oh, God..._ "Is that... bone?"

"Uh-huh." Jani seemed a little dazed. "Blood and bone. Ask me in that voice, Miss." He grinned stupidly. "Ask me _anything_ in that voice..."

Blood. How much blood had he lost? It darkened the ground; his skin looked quite grey.

She looked again at the wound, aghast. The draug had bitten halfway through. _Oh, God, Jani..._

They had no doctor. One of the servants was an experienced midwife, and so mercifully knew at least how to stitch...

"Jani, we need to get this fixed." Anna had climbed down, and helped the crow lord to his feet. His birds were starting to collect around them, cawing anxiously.

He looked down at his mangled arm in an unfocused way. "Well, I'm not getting a hook for a hand."

He waved his good arm in the direction of the others. "And you're _all_ racist for thinking it!"

Elsa watched her sister lead her... suitor... over to a seat on the supply wagon. She had already warned her about Jani's blood. Of course, she had _also_ warned her about unnecessary danger, but she had still charged in like- Oh, well. _Sisters_.

She didn't want to think about Jani's arm.

Elsa felt that weight on her head again. Lifting the crown off, she turned it in her hands, studying it. It was a tall and narrow tower of a thing, all vertical spikes like stalagmites. She let it disintegrate, quietly. How embarrassing.

Next she went to the dragon. The poor thing had shrunk noticeably, and was barely conscious. A wing was broken away. As the Snow Queen's magic flowed into her, the lustre returned to her scales, and she got back on her feet, roaring gratefully. Elsa placed a palm against the huge, icy chest, and felt the hum of life.

"Halla", she told the beast. "Your name is Halla."

Halla purred. Elsa took that as approval.

. .

* * *

. .

Jani had not been the only injured. Edvin had taken a bad blow and cracked ribs, as well as what seemed like a broken collarbone. They had strapped it up as well as they could. The guardsman who had been grabbed by the neck had some ugly claw marks which needed cleaning out, and his throat was too swollen to speak. Anna had a few shallow claw marks of her own, nothing disfiguring.

But no one was dead. That was good. Near enough a miracle.

And the draugs had obeyed her. She was still processing what that all meant.

The horses had run off at the first sight of the undead ambushers. It took the next hour to search for and retrieve them among the winding paths of the mountain, by which point the wounded were patched up as well as they could be. They had also found Olaf, to Elsa's great relief, clinging to the back of one of the missing ponies. Apparently he hadn't even noticed the draugs; he had been lying on the saddle, watching the clouds, when his mount had bolted all by itself. Elsa didn't care as long as he was out of harm's way. Then they got moving again, hoping to reach somewhere less exposed before night fell. Or rather, before it got too cold. Even most of the way to Arendelle, summer nights were still short.

That had been a few hours ago. Now, aching from the hard ride, Elsa looked around the dry mountain valley which Jani had described. It was sheltered enough to pass the night in. Another day's travel, and they would be home.

Home. To face councils and probable war and... exposure.

She thought back to her discussion with Gerda. Had she been right?

No. She could worry about _that_ tomorrow. She still had to take care of the present.

A pavilion of glittering ice arose out of the valley floor, a vaulted roof etched with spiralling fractals supported on pillars as transparent as glass. She let the work occupy her focus, calming her. The walls, the doors, the little details...

There. It was done. A place for her, and Anna, and Olaf to spend their- hopefully- final night in the mountains.

There was a bed for Jani, too. A distance away from hers and Anna's. Still scandalous, but... she wanted to keep an eye on him.

 _He can heal. I know that. But how far does that power go?_

. .


	47. Chapter 47- Insomnia, Part 1

CHAPTER 47- Insomnia, Part 1

* * *

 _. ._

 _I should like to set sail with a cargo of songs,_

 _And come to that airy island where life has its crown,_

 _Where the righteous make their home in the shade of the trees._

 _And there I'd see my auburn-haired Echecratidas with these old eyes,_

 _And I'd take him by the hand, so that the youthful bloom of his fine skin might breathe over me,_

 _And he'd distil sweet longing from his eyes._

 _Lying with my boy among the flowers, enjoying myself, I'd slough off my pale wrinkles;_

 _And for my hair I'd weave a delightful wreath of fresh, new growth,_

 _And, eloquently setting my tongue to work, I would sing a charming, clear-voiced song of love..._

Simonides, Elegiac 22

. .

* * *

. .

 _Erik Halsing liked the docks. Not the people, so much; he had love for his common man, of course, and dock hands were as common as it got, but they were not what really appealed to him about this part of Arendelle. It was the little intrusions of nature into a human world. The seagull cries breaking through the murmur of human voices. The rippling waves and breakers scattering sunlight on the waters of the fjord. The smell, the smell of cold northern seas, as the breeze blew in a maritime atmosphere so clean and refreshing that Erik found no other place so fine for sharpening his mind for reading._

 _Many a morning he had spent here, sat on the quayside poring over some volume, his spindly legs dangling over the waters. Mother had always claimed that he would somehow 'fill out' once he reached twenty, transforming into a muscular 'fine figure of a man'; at twenty-five and still built like a broom handle with a nose, he was beginning to rather doubt it._

 _This morning, he found his reading interrupted by a shadow. A man's shadow. This often happened on the docks, so Eric simply ignored it and tried to keep focus on the book, until whoever it was moved on and restored his light._

 _"Well, sod off to you, too! I can come back if it's that gripping..."_

 _The familiar but quite unexpected voice almost made Erik lose his grip on the offending literature._

 _He was back._

 _Not yet. I'm not ready..._

 _Fumbling the book back into his bag with fingers which suddenly seemed to work in all the wrong directions, while thinking about working up to making eye contact with the surprise visitor, Erik stood up too quickly and nearly toppled sideways into the water. A large hand grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him back, stumbling, into Ukko._

 _I'm not ready. I had a week still. I haven't decided what to say._

 _Ukko Rinne still hadn't cut his hair, and he was dressed in his usual heavy naval coat. The scents of brine and leather filled the air; at that moment it was as if hours had passed and not weeks, since..._

 _Erik's pulse was pounding in his head. The Myrtlean looked him up and down. "Are you on the lash or something?"_

 _A telltale twitch of Ukko's coarse moustache belied his rough tone. Only a jesting accusation- the pirate enjoyed mocking politeness, lawfulness and decency in general._

 _Ukko still held him by the arm. He could feel his fingers. Larger than his, strong._

 _Are you here to lead me astray again?_

 _What do I say?_

 _Don't lead me astray..._

 _Erik fell back into small talk, while scrambling to compose excuses and rebuffs in his head._

 _"I wasn't expecting you until May."_

 _"I switched ships. Now I'm quartermaster on the Bloody Nose. Decided to surprise you." The Northern rogue shrugged innocently, in spite of his inborn lack of a convincing innocent expression. Myrtlemen always looked like they'd just cheated you at cards. Not that Erik played cards._

 _Erik's own innocence in most areas seemed to amuse Ukko after a fashion, although the pirate rarely smiled. He styled himself more the brooding cynic. This should have repelled Erik, just as surely as Erik should have bored Ukko. And yet..._

 _I swore, never again..._

 _God help me._

 _"Aren't you rather young for a quartermaster?"_

 _Behind the mask of his deadpan features, Ukko's eyes danced. "Proud of me, are you? I can read, I can count. The last guy got caught buggering with the shares, so I get his pay packet and a cabin to myself."_

 _Erik had learned to filter out the random obscenity. "Were you the only candidate? Not to sound at all dubious, but..."_

 _"You're charming today, blue-eyes." Ukko scowled and raised his hands. "But, basically, I was the one who caught him. My victory, my spoils. Or should I say, my own bunk."_

 _"Your untrusting nature is paying off", Erik joked. "Yet again. They could use you in the guard."_

 _"Yeah, and I could use a job where I travel and don't have to arrest my friends too often." Rinne shook his head. "Tell you what..." He gestured to a tall and impressive Myrtlean vessel a short distance away. "Fancy a tour?"_

 _I swore..._

 _But, what's one more evening? He's done well, I shouldn't be rude._

 _"I don't know..." Erik looked around._

 _Ukko leaned in. As his eyes drew close, Erik's will shrank proportionately. "I've got a nice bottle of schnapps, up from the South..."_

 _That was rather nice, last time..._

 _But I..._

 _"Very well", came the inevitable surrender from Erik's lips. "Show me your field of victory."_

 _Rinne snorted, and led him off by the hand._

 _"That's a new one..."_

 _As they wove through the sundry dock hands towards the Bloody Nose, Erik mustered one more token protest._

 _"You don't have to hold on so tight, you know..."_

 _Ukko looked back at him, with a face that was far too sincere._

 _"Don't I?"_

. .

Something clattered against the window. A bird, or a branch, or-

 _Don't I?_

Bishop Halsing sat up in bed. His palms were damp with perspiration. Another dream.

Climbing out of bed, he pulled his dressing gown on over his nightshirt. He felt around on his bedside table for a candle and lit it, placing it in a portable lamp.

How many nights was this, now? After all these years, now he was dreaming of Ukko once again. What did it all mean?

He opened the door and ventured forth. A spell in the rose garden would settle him. It was the only place that brought him peace, and with it some hope of proper sleep, on nights like this. Nights with too many memories.

 _He's probably long forgotten me. I gave him enough reason to want to. And here I am, a fool, mooning over the past. Neither of us are still the boys we were, back then._

He reached the chapel garden, and set the lamp down on the bench beside him. The night smelt of dewy grass. Overhead, the stars shone brightly.

It must have been all the talk of Myrtle these past weeks, making him revisit the sins of his youth. The Queen's trip, the apparent coup, talk of black-and-blue sails within raiding distance of Arendelle. So many of his flock called upon him, seeking reassurance, seeking peace, and, try as he might, every day it seemed as if he had a little less serenity saved up for himself...

Erik took a long, deep breath of the cool night air.

 _God watch over you, Ukko. Wherever you are now..._

. .

* * *

. .

 _Jani crawled forward, listing like a conscript on his first ship since the press. There was something hot and sour inside his head, Mouse Eye's death still stabbing, gnawing at him, pain between the temples..._

 _Nausea. Concussion?_

 _Somewhere out amid the blood and blur, Elsa was waiting, her face wet with tears. Waiting to scream at him, waiting to shame._

 _But he could make it better this time. He could say the right thing. He could fix it-_

 _Something grabbed his foot._

" _Going somewhere?"_

 _No._

 _You died..._

 _Out of the blood-soaked earth, Rinne arose. Eyes of black, flesh slack with decay._

 _Jani cried out, and drew Snake. But he was slow, like swimming through mud. Like voices underwater, he could make no sense of his limbs, and draug-Rinne was upon him._

" _You sodding idiot. How could you miss it?"_

 _Snake shattered like toffee. So did Jani's hand; then draug-Rinne munched his way up the arm, ripping it away with crusted yellow teeth._

" _Now I'm dead- because of you."_

 _Now Jani's left arm. It snapped like a dry branch, an empty and blood-drenched sleeve flailing in shreds from his elbow. Down his dead gullet, crunching, black eyes rolling hungrily in greasy sockets._

" _Your friends! Your family! Is there anyone you haven't failed?"_

 _A sharp pain in Jani's face. He couldn't quite-_

 _He bounced and rolled when he struck the ground, limbless, helpless, discarded like a broken doll._

 _He could not move._

 _That pain again. Familiar. Distracting._

 _He could smell Elsa coming. Even amid the blood, her scent..._

 _He could not speak. His tongue was paralysed, his body gone. She was coming and nothing would be fixed. There was nothing he could fix._

 _Was was that jabbing his face?_

 _He heard her footfall. Shoes of ice... hard as glass..._

 _That jabbing._

 _A beak?_

. .

Jani suddenly awoke to find Apricot pecking at his face. Though he was used to his old friend, the unexpected sight of a raven's curved, cruel beak so close to his eyes was enough to make him sit up with a start, knocking her from his chest onto his lap.

"Get off! Bloody hell..."

From his lap, inscrutable grey eyes trained on him. The raven ruffled her feathers indignantly.

 _Felt frightened. Felt trapped. Free now._

"I wasn't 'frightened'."

The raven stared at him patiently. Jani sighed.

They'd known each other eight, nearly nine years? At this stage there was quite a lot of unintentional leakage between his mind and old Apricot's. Sometimes she knew or felt things he hadn't meant her to. It worked both ways- When Apricot made herself morose remembering those three husbands she'd survived, Jani normally picked up on it and gave her something tasty to cheer her up.

"Just a nightmare, love. I'm okay. First I've had in... _paska_... How did you even get in here?"

 _Woman. Grey. Door opens, I follow._

Gerda, helping his useless, crippled arse to dress for bed. "Were you stuck? I can let you out."

 _Go, or maybe stay? But hungry. Food?_

"Sorry, no carrion here. Didn't get me _that_ badly. Hang on."

Once he had stumbled wearily over to the door and opened it, releasing the old raven to hunt down something dead and smelly, he resealed it and made his way back, supporting himself against the wall and trying not to stumble and slip over. The palace Elsa had built seemed a lot larger when he had to cross it with a couple of pints less blood than he was used to...

Back to the bed. Thank God.

As he lay back down, he listened to the little sounds the two sisters were making, asleep a small distance away. Anna seemed to be slumbering peacefully. Fair play, she'd earned her rest today.

But Elsa...

. .

* * *

. .

" _Yes, Mamma. Yes Pappa." Their clothes are wet and rotted- of course they will need to change. Elsa pulls a piece of seaweed out of Pappa's nose. It has meat on the end of it. It tickles him, and he laughs..._

...

 _They are back in Arendelle. There is a parade to welcome the King and Queen back. "You were very good to bring us back", they tell her, as they wade into the crowd and begin to feed..._

...

 _Mamma's hair is falling out, so she gathers some from passers-by... Everyone laughs and cheers, even when they die..._

...

 _They carry her back to her bedroom. Mamma blinks her black, dead eyes and smiles. Now Pappa can be King for ever and ever, Elsa can go back to her room. For ever, and ever, and ever... Oh, how she laughs..._

 _..._

" _I'm so glad", says Mari, picking up the sharp, gleaming scissors. "You're trapped here with me always, and we'll be the best of friends." She licks her lips._

" _Your tongue, first. Can't have you screaming..."_

. .

* * *

. .

 **Continued...**


	48. Chapter 48- Insomnia, Part 2

CHAPTER 48: Insomnia, Part 2

* * *

. .

Where was she?

 _Am I awake?_

 _Please, please be awake._

Elsa lay in bed, on her back, trying not to make a sound. Her right hand was clasped to her mouth; if she let it go she knew some gasp or sob would escape and disturb the others. So she lay quite still, and focused on slowing her breathing down to normal. Tears blurred her vision as she stared up through the translucent roof of her latest ice palace, the cloudy night sky blue-black above them. She could hear the faint rumble of thunder. Outside, she knew snow was already starting to fall, but she couldn't help herself.

Another bad dream.

There had been that girl again, the palace... but it slipped away from her, like a tune half-remembered which one tries to pin down but cannot.

It didn't matter, just a dream. She still hadn't come to terms with real events, what had happened that day. Either the good _or_ the bad.

She had a horrible idea as to how the draugs had come to be. Who would sink so far as to make something like that? And did this mean that... that there had once been people like her? Or at least, one person like her? And what happened to them?

A dozen other problems plagued her mind besides. No wonder she had nightmares.

What does a Queen do with a dragon?

What does a Queen do with feelings that she hasn't quite made her mind up about?

There had been a habit she'd formed, in the early months following that frozen summer, of writing Anna letters in her head. The things she could not quite say aloud, just yet- but it had helped to _almost_ say them.

..

" _Dear Anna,_

 _I know opening the parade is a formality, but so many eyes looking at me is still terrifying and I really need you there._

 _I think I might be afraid of everything. A fine Queen I am. I look at my itinerary and I can hardly breathe..."_

..

That was one. Later there had been:

..

" _Dear Anna,_

 _You say that my people love me. Everyone says it- but I don't feel it. I will myself to believe it, but something in me just won't._

 _I still have nightmares that I'm just a madwoman who thinks that she's the Queen. They'll all wake up tomorrow and decide to lock me away, until I can be disposed of._

 _Just like Hans did._

 _I'm sorry. I'm not blaming you when I sometimes still think of him..."_

..

Since she had gotten better at talking to her sister face to face she had lost the habit. But now she found herself falling back on it.

..

" _Dear Anna,_

 _When Jani slew those men before my eyes, back at that quarry, I was perturbed. I felt... confusing things, and thought that I must be afraid of him._

 _But now I've seen him do battle again, and looking back I realise that it wasn't fear that made me tremble. Not fear at all. And now I feel cold, and ashamed, and wonder if Niska really had a point about me._

 _But God forgive me, EVERYTHING he does is beautiful..."_

 _.._

"Elsa..."

She sat up in bed.

Who had spoken?

Then her mind snapped back into awake mode, and she recognised Jani's voice. He was several paces away, at the other end of the pavilion bedchamber. She had decided on putting him some distance from her bed and Anna's for propriety's sake, while he was still near enough to be tended to if he needed anything.

She wished he was nearer. No, not because of... her thoughts were running away with her recently. But the only sleep she had enjoyed entirely untroubled by dreams, in _months_ , had been in Janna's arms. Reeling from magical siren song, on the hard and uneven forest floor, surrounded by maddening supernatural darkness, and yet she had felt so...

Olaf had been given his _own room_ , because he was _very_ good and _so_ responsible and had _earned_ it. Not at _all_ to rid Elsa's already-crowded nights of insomniac snowmen and their bedtime story requests.

" _Psst_. Elsa..."

She hoped that his arm wasn't bleeding again. They didn't have to worry about infections, at least. He claimed his blood killed all diseases and toxins. Useful.

She eased herself out of bed as quietly as she could. Anna seemed to be sleeping like a log at the moment... Elsa tiptoed over to Jani's ice bed, and sat down on the chair which was still next to it. She had left it for Gerda's use, when she'd been seeing to Jani earlier- he had needed help changing his clothes and re-bandaging his arm.

"You look beautiful", her suitor whispered. He was sat up, cradling his poor arm.

"Oh!" Elsa reddened, realising she was only in her nightdress, and quickly formed a simple outfit to make herself more decent.

"Spoilsport... but were you not cold?" Jani asked, then rolled his eyes. "Oh, right... dumb question."

"I _do_ feel cold. It's just different for me. And I'm so used to it I don't always notice."

"Figures. Still beautiful, _kultani_."

Jani smiled, bathed in the deep blue twilight distilling through the ice walls which surrounded them. This pavilion, at night- it was like being inside his eyes. _God, those eyes..._

 _You entrance me..._ Elsa had said that, before. What had she meant? How was she able to somehow _mean_ things she said yet did not entirely understand?

"So are you, beautiful boy."

Jani drew his nightshirt around himself a little; Gerda must have taken off his bindings when she'd prepared him for bed, and what were normally only visible on Janna were quite noticeable under the fabric. Very noticeable... _focus!_ Elsa worried she had made him uncomfortable, although the irony of worrying about _sensitivity_ on Jani's behalf was not lost on her.

"What does _kultani_ actually mean?" she asked, opting to change the subject.

"Did I not say?" Jani tutted. "It's 'my gold' or 'my golden one'. Pirates, remember?"

"Yo ho ho?"

"That's the least convincing 'yo ho ho' I've ever heard. Also, we don't ever say that."

"Then surely it's the _most_ convincing you've ever heard."

"Cute. I must be a bad influence. It's how we often say 'darling'- especially to blondes." Elsa's loose hair had draped across Jani's bed as she leant over him. He reached out gently, and ran one of her locks through his fingers. "Although it looks almost silver in this light..."

Elsa smiled. "Gold also means royalty."

"True, your Majesty."

"Jani..." Elsa looked down at his injury. "I know you don't like to fuss."

" _A Myrtleman braves fortune's storms, whatever life may bring..._ "

"What?"

"From _The Harlot and the Ring_. It's a song."

"A song I want to hear?"

"Not really the time or place. Plus, I'd need a second singer. I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"A bit. Okay..." Elsa tried to regain her train of thought. "Jani, _talk_ to me. Really. You're hurt, and I know it's affected you." She placed her hand on his cheek, and felt him tremble slightly.

"I'll be alright."

Elsa groaned slightly. That big, bad wolf thing again. _Boys..._ "I _know_ you will. You always are. But I'm your..." She didn't know how to complete that sentence. "I want to know how you're feeling _now_. I care, alright?"

"What I feel?" The crow lord snarled, and glared at his own injury. "Aw, shit..." A tear, glimmering like a blue spark, swelled in the corner of Jani's eye. Elsa dabbed it away.

"Why wasn't I more careful? I should have-" He gritted his teeth as if he was trying not to scream. His eyes brightened, glowing through their lids.

Elsa chose her next words carefully. "Jani, you're only human." He looked at her incredulously. "Yes, I know. But whatever knowledge or skills or abilities you have, you are still finite and fallible. You are only human. And you make mistakes."

Jani thought about it for a minute. "That sounded... is that a quote?"

"No..." Elsa looked at her hands. "Well, not exactly in those words. But it's something Anna keeps telling me. I'm... not very good at dealing with the past."

"So I hear..." Jani frowned. "But you two are fine now, right?"

"Yes, but..." Elsa tried to find expression for her own issues that would make sense to anyone else. "She forgave me right away, for everything. Only I'm still working on forgiving myself."

"Oh _Elsa_..." Jani looked sympathetically up at her.

"Don't!" Elsa sat up straight. "I mean... sorry... look, at this point you'll say I have to let go. That I can't blame myself forever. And I _know_." She buried her head in her hands. "I _tell_ myself to let it go. And little by little I _do_ feel more at peace with it. But I can't choose how I feel."

"I know a bit about that..."

"I guess you do." Elsa let a finger slide softly down her companion's cheek. It was so pale and soft... "And... it's okay to be scared, Jani."

His face crumbled. She had been expecting a denial. "I can't feel my fingers, Elsa. What if the bite did something the blood can't fix?"

There it was. Elsa leant down and kissed that perfect cheek. Jani laughed as her hair tickled his face. " _If_ that's what happens, _if_... then, we deal with it."

"We..."

Elsa paused. _No, please don't raise that now..._

"Any idea what you'll do about... 'we'... once you're home and dry?"

Elsa shook her head. "Jani, no, I just can't-" Her heart started thumping. "I don't-"

Jani reached out with his good hand and clutched her fingers. "Just breathe. I'm sorry."

That helped a little. Elsa settled her powers down before they could start slipping out of her.

"I just don't know, Jani. I don't know what to do. I wish I could say more."

"No, it was stupid to bring it up-"

"No, it wasn't. It _is_ important, I just... need more time."

Jani considered something. There was always a slight jutting of his chin when he did that, which Elsa found wholly endearing.

"You don't have to worry about me, Elsa. I'll be discreet."

"I know. But-"

"But understand." He looked her in the eye. "I'll _court_ discreetly. I won't _live_ discreetly."

Elsa nodded, understanding perfectly. "I would not ask that."

Jani smiled. "It's okay to be scared, Elsa."

"There you go, using my logic against me. Thanks." She looked back to where her bed and Anna's were. "Why did you call me over, first of all? That was a while ago."

"I could hear you not sleeping." _He worried about me? Even like this?_

He was still holding her hand. His flesh was hot, vital, in spite of the blood loss. _I adore you..._ Jani didn't repeat those words. He let his touch remind her, leaving Elsa wondering what exactly he had meant- as, perhaps, did Jani himself. Or maybe it was just Elsa who didn't understand herself.

"It's a problem I have." _That_ was understating it. Could she even explain the nightmares if she wanted to? How they'd been getting worse and worse for months? And moreover, did she want Jani thinking her a coward even more than he probably already did? He was so... heroic... and Elsa fundamentally wasn't.

"You seemed to sleep fine in the forest. In spite of it all."

 _With you beside me._

Elsa blushed, feeling found out. "Yes. I did, didn't I?"

Their eyes met again, and, for a while, they didn't speak, offering each other a look whose significance Elsa could not quite distil into words. Only that it was the sum total of everything they had said, or done for each other up to now, and a tacit promise of more. It was the opposite of loneliness, of accusation, of regret.

 _Oh, God. He swore himself to me._

 _How is it that I'm terrified, yet at the same time I've never been less scared of anything that could come against us?_

"So, _kultani_... I'm not asleep, you're not asleep. Whatever are we to do?" Jani winked.

Elsa looked down at their joined hands. She felt she could probably sleep right now if she were certain he'd not let go. But tying themselves together again would look very strange to Anna come the morning.

"I can't play like this. Maybe I won't ever again, I..." Jani stopped himself. "But... I _could_ sing something soothing..."

"If I weren't worried about waking my sister, I'd love that. I've only heard your voice once or twice, and I miss it."

"Anna?" Jani looked over to where her sister was tangled up in her furs and blankets. "I can hear her breathing. She's deep asleep- should be fine."

Elsa beamed. There were worse ends to a rough day than a midnight serenade, even from a sick bed. "Well, then just be careful."

"Uh-uh." Jani shook his head mischievously. "It'll cost you."

Elsa blinked. "Cost me? Cost me what?"

"A kiss."

"Oh..." Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Is that all? I gave you one for free just a moment ago."

"Oh, yes." Deep blue eyes sparkled. A wicked smile tugged at the corner of moist lips. "But I want to give you one _back_. So, lean in and close your eyes..."

Elsa felt suddenly nervous. Last time Jani had initiated a kiss... well, she'd nearly exploded. He looked at her, and she could tell he saw it in her eyes.

"If you're not sure... it's okay, I shouldn't have-"

"No. It's alright." Elsa smiled, letting his presence reassure her fretful nature. It was Jani. Nothing bad could happen. She had touched him before. She had even _frozen_ him before, a bit, and he'd recovered thanks to his own magic. This was irrational. She had to fight it.

Thirteen years with next to no physical human contact was always bound to have side effects...

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm so weird about this. But if you're still interested, I'd like if we could try a _small_ kiss..."

Jani nodded. " _If_ I'm still interested? Of course I am. And you don't need to feel bad. There's a lot of getting-used-to-each-other still ahead of us."

Elsa blushed. She liked the sound of that. Working together to find what worked. Perhaps Gerda had been right earlier...

She leaned over Jani's face, and closed her eyes. Just the closeness was intoxicating. Besides his usual redolence of pine needles and leather, now the scent of wild flowers was was rising from his smooth skin, his thick, tousled hair... She was having an effect on him...

She heard Jani clear his throat. "With your permission, my lady?"

Silly man... She smirked, unable to keep a straight face. "Permission granted."

His face rose to hers. It helped that she was above... she felt more in control, somehow. Soft lips brushed against hers, hesitant, testing... and then his mouth met hers, and it was _just right_.

God, he felt wonderful. Like he sensed exactly what she was after... or like he had access to four hundred years of knowledge about kissing girls, at least. She tried to hold in the panic bubbling up inside, like keeping the cork in a champagne bottle by sheer willpower, and enjoy the subtle, sensual movements...

He broke away, ending the kiss. " _Voi_... that was something. Are you okay up there?"

Elsa realised that she was breathing hard, gasping, and giggled breathlessly. "I... that... oh!... That was a bit intense. But I'm okay. I handled it." She grinned. "Thank you, my sweet. That was extraordinary."

"Likewise, believe me. Thank _you_ , _kultani_."

 _Jani can be so sweet..._ He was thanking her for trusting him, even though it wasn't really _his_ fault she was so neurotic.

Settling back, the crow lord hummed thoughtfully. "So, a lullaby for we glamorous insomniacs to settle down to?"

Absolutely.

Elsa reformed her chair into more of a couch, and reclined on her side, facing Jani in his bed, hand still firmly in hand. She hoped she looked suitably romantic in this pose.

"Something... soothing..." She yawned, shifting slightly to get comfortable. It wasn't going to take much for her to drift off...

Then Jani began to hum a fine old tune. It was warm and gentle and lazy, like honey and warm evenings. After a minute, he started to sing in his Marsher tongue. The tune seemed soft and tender, yet somehow bittersweet...

"What does it... mean...", she mumbled.

Jani shushed her, with a smile, and carried on. So she just listened. Soon comfort softened into oblivion, and she slipped away into a perfect, dreamless sleep...

. .

* * *

. .

Jani stopped for a moment and gazed at the still face of the Queen. A loose lock of blonde hair had fallen across her cheek, aglow in the twilight; now it swayed back and forth with her every soft, silent breath.

Asleep already. Was that a complement or a slight? Didn't matter, if he could see her like this. At peace...

With a deep sigh, he continued the song, just a little above a whisper.

. .

 _"There are maids there whose looks entrance_

 _But she'd never spare them a glance._

 _Ah my love, my golden one-_

 _Still you will not come..._

 _. ._

 _She'd never change, nor be untrue,_

 _Abandon me for someone new._

 _I wait at the shore for her return_

 _My eyes grow dim_

 _But no..._

 _I do not learn..._

... .

 _My lover's looks are cool as ice_

 _Her voice, her lips- as warm as spice._

 _Ah my love, my golden one-_

 _Still you will not come..._

 _. .  
_

 _Perhaps some tempest stirs the seas_

 _And so she waits for a fairer breeze_

 _I wait in the dark for your return_

 _The days grow short_

 _But no..._

 _When will I learn?_

 _... .  
_

 _Summer is ending, the autumn is near_

 _I wait for my lover, she still isn't here._

 _Ah my love, my golden one-_

 _Still you will not come..._

 _. .  
_

 _Come back my darling, come home today_

 _A curse on whatever still keeps you away._

 _I watch as the flames of sunset burn_

 _Their fire fades_

 _But no..._

 _When will I learn?"_

. .

He paused, suddenly self-conscious. No, no one was listening now.

Anna was still snoring like a bear, which was no doubt comforting to the cub in her arms. Elsa slept, as with all else, perfectly composed. She didn't snore, and had managed to slump unconscious against the divan she'd made _elegantly_. How did she do it? Even the disarranged hair falling across her face, her neck, her slender shoulders... it look _planned_ , like in an old portrait.

Having satisfied himself that she was _entirely_ asleep, he carried on.

. .

" _There is my lover, lingering_

 _Lost in the shade of the sunken king._

 _Ah my love, my golden one-_

 _Still you have not come..._

 _. ._

 _Why do you tarry, oh light of my life?_

 _Sail back to Myrtle and make me your wife._

 _I pray in the cold for your return_

 _My body aches_

 _But no..._

 _I'll never learn."_

. .

Was he deluding himself? Was it really possible? Would she ever...

 _Put it from your mind. Let what she_ can _offer be enough for now._

Jani had a lot on his mind. Exhausted, hurt, and drained, but glad of how the evening had ended, he soon followed Elsa into the soothing dark of sleep.

. .

* * *

. .

When Anna was awoken by a hungry bear cub, early the next morning, she found them both asleep, dozing side by side.

Elsa's hand still resting in that of her suitor...

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:** Well, that was mostly fluff. But therapeutic for everyone, I think.

I've been fairly productive these past few weeks. Just to forewarn everyone, I may not be so productive over the coming month. I'm away for a while in the last week of January, and in February I'm working extra hours, so it's hard to say how much writing I'll fit in. There's more story to come, though, so don't worry. Lots more.


	49. Chapter 49- Come Morning

CHAPTER 49- Come Morning

* * *

. .

"Wakey wakey..."

Someone nudged Elsa.

Ever a light sleeper, she opened her eyes, blinking reflexively even in the muted morning light filtering down to where she lay. Crows were cawing somewhere.

A weight dropped from her hand. She'd been holding something.

She felt too... light? Sitting up, a little stiffly, she realised that her bedding was still on her bed, and she wasn't... and of _course_ , she remembered now. She had fallen asleep with Jani.

They hadn't gotten up to any shenanigans. Anna wouldn't think they'd gotten up to shenanigans, would she?

Jani was still snoozing, purring softly like a sleeping cat. Probably the best thing for him.

She brushed Olaf's hand away when he tried to poke her again. "I'm- oh!" She yawned. "I'm up, Olaf, I'm up. What is it?"

"I brought your breakfast."

Elsa looked over at the hot tea and freshly delivered food on the table, and her stomach growled fiercely. But at the same time...

"You didn't _make_ the food, did you?"

 _Remember the soup incident? Or that time he decided to make biscuits..._ The smell of cheese _everywhere_ , the cost of repainting the ballroom ceiling... Elsa still hadn't quite gotten to the bottom of that episode.

To her relief, Olaf shook his head. "Gerda said it was best if she kept doing it. Then I offered again, and she waved a big fork at me. But in the end she said I could carry it."

"Well done, Olaf. Thank you." Elsa smiled.

Wait... three plates, three cups. Oh, of _course_... her head was still foggy. But she felt wonderfully rested. She hadn't slept this well since-

The door burst open, and Anna burst in. "Whoopee! I'm starving..."

But instead of going straight to the table, she sat down on the couch beside Elsa, still warmly wrapped and booted from whatever she had been up to outside.

"So..."

Elsa looked blankly back at her sister. "So... what?"

Anna pulled off her gloves. "I spoke to the others while I was helping out, and-"

"You helped out?"

"Jani normally does, come morning, but obviously not this time. But-"

"I didn't know that."

Anna wrinkled her freckled nose. "Stop cutting in. Anyway, it snowed, late last night. But then..." She grinned. "Suddenly, it stopped. Even got slightly... warm..."

Elsa smiled back, as casually as she could. "That's lucky."

" _Lucky_ , huh?" Anna looked at the sleeping bundle on the bed opposite them. "So, how is-"

"You're up early", Elsa quickly interjected. "Not like you. You're normally only the first awake on Christmas morning."

Anna bounced her heels off the ground excitedly. "Oh, come on, Elsa! Today's the day we finally reach home." She paused. "Hopefully."

"You jinxed it..." Olaf piped up, doing his morning stomach crunches in the middle of the floor.

He didn't _have_ stomach muscles. Or a stomach...

"I did not!" Anna insisted. She looked up at Elsa, freckled face beaming. "What's the first thing you're looking forward to about getting home?"

Elsa hesitated. She should be excited as well, but when she thought about reaching home again... it stirred up as much anxiety as relief. She knew that, even if they all slept in their own beds tonight, their troubles were far from over.

But she didn't want to dampen her sweet sister's enthusiasm, so she played along, making a show of humming thoughtfully. "Mmm... soft beds and plump pillows, perhaps? How about you?"

Anna wrinkled her nose. "A proper bathroom." Elsa had to agree- they were starting to run out of leaves for 'hygiene' purposes, and even she preferred a proper hot bath to tepid ponds or freezing mountain streams.

But Anna was a little too excited for this to be about warm water. Elsa smiled, and put her arm around her sister. "And you'll see your husband-to-be, won't you?"

Anna turned pink, giggling. "I just can't get used to hearing that word. About us. About him. It makes me feel happy and scared and kind of confused because to me he's just Kristoff, and that word already just means everything I could ever want it to, and..." She eventually paused to take a breath. Elsa let her.

 _She really has it bad for him, doesn't she?_

"Sorry. I wasn't expecting that much to come out." The princess tugged at her red plaits. "Love does weird things."

She looked at Elsa then as if she was expecting a response. Elsa just didn't know what to say about _that_ issue.

Fortunately they were interrupted, when Olaf bounded up and decided to poke Jani awake, too.

He regretted that.

A pale foot flew out, knocking Olaf's head clear across the ice pavilion, and the crow lord arose with a groan.

" _Perkele!_ Oh... sorry, mate. Reflex."

"I'm okay!" shouted a voice from some distant corner of the palace, and the rest of the snowman's body scuttled off after it.

Elsa looked hard at her suitor, sitting up in bed, and somehow different this morning.

Clearly stronger, thank goodness, but also... something about the bearing?

Oh, of _course_...

The crow lord winked at her, seeing that she had seen.

Elsa picked up the hand that she had apparently held all night, and kissed it like a prince.

"Hi, Janna."

"Morning, gorgeous."

A second or two later, Anna's brain caught up with them. "Oh? Oh... So, we're Janna again?"

She gave Elsa a curious look. "It's sort of sweet how you can tell. Is it an intuition thing, or..."

"It's 'cause I'm not trying to hide my tits."

Janna stood up and started to stretch, yawning.

Anna got up quickly. " _Okay_... I'm going to eat."

They _were_ quite prominent under nothing but that old shirt... Elsa blushed. "Delicately put, Janna."

The Myrtlean royal arched her back proudly. "Look at 'em- like buns fresh out the oven."

" **Stop** , Janna..."

"Yes, Miss."

. .

* * *

. .

Breakfast having gone smoothly enough, in spite of the need to deflect one or two more suspicious questions from Anna- _We'd only been holding hands, honestly!_ \- the tin travel dishes had been cleared away while the Queen and the injured Princess had gone to get dressed. Janna had pointedly insisted on managing without help this time, so Elsa had simply erected a screen and left it be.

She herself was technically still dressed from the previous night, but she changed her underclothes and reformed a slightly different dress over them. She didn't perspire and ice dresses didn't get grubby, but... somehow, to her uptight mind, it felt like putting on something _clean_.

Dressing with one hand is no picnic, and there had been a few odd banging and stumbling noises which Elsa had been tempted to investigate- purely out of concern- but eventually the stubborn Lady of Crows had emerged wearing her battered-yet-indestructible naval boots the right way round, and with her dark waistcoat _somehow_ correctly fastened. Presumably with the aid of toes or teeth?

She probably should have done her shirt up another button or two, although... Elsa renewed her mental note to ask Janna more about that tattoo. _How far down does it go?_

Wait... she hadn't really thought that...

 _Like buns fresh out the oven... warm and springy?_

"I _can_ do this myself", Janna insisted again, jarring Elsa immediately back into the present.

"Of course you can", Elsa reassured her suitor, as she subtly darkened the shadow over a closed eyelid. "In a basic sort of a way."

"Excuse me?" Janna frowned, forcing Elsa to pull the brush back. Her eyebrows were very expressive- strong and a little jagged, like black thunderbolts. With a little plucking they would be exquisite... but she'd _never_ agree. The dye she'd used was also a little patchy. Recolour?

Elsa sighed patiently. "Let's just say that there is a difference between someone who can sit right on a horse and a champion jockey. There's also a difference between make-up _rubbed on_ by you and make-up that has been _expertly_ applied by yours truly."

Anna whistled. "Merciless." She seemed very entertained by the spectacle.

Janna grumbled, but didn't stop her from finishing. Actually, her crude comments and fidgeting were encouraging, signs that she was getting back to... what _passed_ for normal when one was a gay magic pirate. Elsa found she was quite enjoying this morning, in spite of her anxieties. First a nice breakfast of the last of the jam and biscuits, and then she had managed to boss, cajole and strong-arm the terrible Lady of Crows into letting her do her eyes. Yes, she was basically tormenting the poor tomboy- but with _kindness_. Back in Arendelle she'd have to twist Janna's arm a little, and get her to let Elsa dress her up a bit.

 _In Arendelle..._ well, actually they would probably have far too many other problems to deal with. Elsa was trying not to think about them. She was currently managing to only fret about one or two issues at a time.

The Myrtlean's eyes were now immaculately framed in blended indigos. Gilding the lily- they didn't need much help. Janna's extraordinary eyes were slightly deeper set that Elsa or Anna's, and now they smouldered amid shadow like blue-black coals. Striking yet subtle- Elsa was quite pleased with the result. And it so complemented the scarf she had given him. _Her? Him?_ She had to ask Janna about past tenses. She _did_ like the scarf, didn't she? She wasn't just saying that? No, just paranoia- Janna didn't seem the sort to politely lie. Or politely _anything_ , although she was kinder than she admitted.

 _Next, mascara._ Janna preferred a 'more is more' approach, didn't she?

Four hundred years or no, she had a lot to learn.

. .

* * *

. .

The midsummer morning sun was already brightening the eastern foothills. Last night's snow gleamed wetly underfoot, as if just on the point of melting. Determined alpine plants poked up out of the glinting white carpet here and there, striking sprays of green and purple against the stark monochrome of the chilly mountain surrounds. It was a beautiful morning, and as Anna brushed down her mare, she simply felt glad to be alive.

 _Home! Rest! Kristoff! Warm beds! Wedding! Cake! Making babies!_

"Well, you look half ready to flap your arms and take off." Janna appeared beside her suddenly, making her start for a moment. The Myrtlean smiled, running a hand through her messy black hair, which Elsa had not been allowed to do much of anything with. Her eyes were stunning, though.

It was odd to think they'd be introducing her to the court as foreign royalty. She didn't seem that princessy. She almost seemed to make a point of it. But then, Anna had her own stubborn ways, and liked going round the town talking to people of all honest types, and had had adventures, and _was_ marrying a Sami ice harvester. Plus, she was getting pretty good with a sword- not your storybook princess at all.

Maybe they had more in common than she had thought, past the surface. And past all those many, many other things.

"Not quite", Anna replied. "That something you can do?"

"Fly?" Janna laughed. "Not so far. But our powers vary a bit, so maybe I'm just a late bloomer. I can get lighter, if I want, but I still fall fast."

Anna didn't quite follow, but the Myrtlean immediately switched subjects anyway.

"Anna... about yesterday."

Anna blinked. "Sheesh, which part?" Yesterday had been _huge_...

Janna seemed embarrassed, which Anna actually found weird and uncomfortable to see, like a cat smoking a pipe. "When we were sparring. I was a bit... short with you. Unfairly."

 _Yeah, and I still feel the bruises..._ Anna was well brought up, though, and didn't press it. "Apology accepted, Janna. And I'll try to be kind to... women of the evening... if it ever comes up."

She seemed to want to say more. "It's just... I don't like being a problem for people. My magic, I mean, it can make me..." She broke off, and looked like she was trying to figure out her words.

Elsa had joined them, leading her own snowy mount, already spotless and saddled. "What's going on?" Anna had to explain that Janna was trying to communicate actual feelings constructively, which raised her sister's eyebrows.

"Look..." Janna rubbed the back of her neck, thinking hard. "There's a blackguard you'll meet in any tavern. He's got troubles in life, boo hoo... but he's an _arsehole_ to everyone. And there's always some poor woman of his, sticking up for him because he's got problems. I hate the idea of turning into that guy. Why should I take my shit out on everyone else?"

"That's how I've always felt!" Elsa blurted. "Yes, I lost my parents. Yes, my powers are hard to control and my position carries a lot of pressure, but..."

"But it shouldn't be an excuse to lash out and act selfishly."

"Exactly." Elsa smiled. "You look for the good that can come of your situation. I can help my people. So I _should_."

Janna gazed out ahead of them, fingering her new scarf thoughtfully. "It's not all bad. There is... beauty in my abilities. Maybe not so obvious as with yours."

Elsa flushed. "You think my powers are... beautiful?"

"Of course!" Janna enthused. "Ever since you made that first ice house, north of the city. The beams and the straw- like threads of glass- and the patterns spiralling on the door panels, the snowflakes dancing on beams of light as you wove it all together." She sighed, lost in recollection. "I think that was when I first..."

She trailed off, glancing sharply at Anna in a way that made her feel weirdly like _she_ was intruding.

"Um, can you excuse me a sec?" Anna said, backing off. "I need... to... talk to Gerda about something. Won't be long!"

She led her horse alongside the supply wagon- now nearly empty. Gerda was taking a turn with the little cub, which was tearing into a pawful of oat biscuits like a greedy, fluffy toddler.

"Hello Anna", the old woman smiled. "How are things progressing?"

Anna hesitated. Across the camp, she saw her sister and the Myrtlean exile watching each other, intent but cautious. But then they reached out, just a little, oh so discreetly, and allowed their fingertips to brush together momentarily. She might have been the only person to spot it.

"Is something wrong?" Gerda frowned.

"I don't know..." Anna fidgeted with her plaits. "But I think she's in love with her..."

"Well of _course_ she is", said Gerda. "But which one do you mean?"

. .

* * *

. .


	50. Chapter 50- The Snake's Tale

CHAPTER 50- The Snake's Tale

* * *

. .

"What do you mean, 'How do I know'?" Janna growled. Something in her tone made Anna's horse whine and shudder under her. The crows circling above them seemed to get suddenly noisier, too. The princess wasn't _scared_ \- Janna didn't scare _her_. But she was immediately very conscious of what had happened to Niska.

Elsa coughed politely. Anna got the sense that it was meant as a warning to both of them.

"I'm not..." She decided to put a bit more effort into asking the question sensitively. "When you wake up, and you're a boy, and you weren't before. Or a girl. What makes it... geesh, I don't know... what's different?"

Janna seemed to accept the question, relaxing in her saddle a little and leaning forward to scratch her jaw with her good hand without letting go of the reins. Anna hadn't seen her use her right hand since being bitten...

"You really don't get it, do you?"

The Lady of Crows was eyeing her closely. Anna looked down at her hands, feeling awkward. "Not really... sorry."

"And yet... you accepted me. Immediately and without question. Huh..." Janna grinned pleasantly. "You are a rarity, you know that?"

"I, uh, you're welcome, really." Anna mumbled sheepishly, not having expected her to say something nice.

' _You're dumb, but really nice with it'_ was a bit of a mixed complement, but right now she'd take it.

The piratical princess whistled. "Sink me... I've never been good at describing it. Well, if you must hear it... everything is different."

Elsa looked confused. "That makes _no_... What do you mean?"

"Everything _and_ nothing..." The Lady of Crows screwed up her face in concentration. This seemed to be a struggle for her. Had they pressed on a sore point? Well, if she got upset it was Elsa's fault.

"Okay, then. My head is like... You're royals too. Do you have those pointless rooms back in your castle that are just full of paintings and pictures and tapestries, all over the walls?"

Elsa nodded. "A hundred of them. I keep wandering into one I don't even recognise. Anna knows them all like the back of her hand, somehow."

 _Well, it's not like I had much else to do..._

The Myrtlean princess snorted. "Aye. Castles, right? Okay, well, imagine your mind is like one of those rooms. Crowded. Your thoughts and memories are the paintings and tapestries and rugs, all images and colours, and the whole room is lit by this..." She tilted her head to one side. "let's say a _blue_ light. This light is your womanhood. Femaleness. Whatever. When you look at your thoughts, and feelings, and memories, they're always tinted by its soft blue light- but you don't know it, because it's always been there, since the day you were born. Like a ticking clock you stop hearing."

Where had _this_ come from? And where was she going with it?

"Now, being a boy, on the other hand... suppose someone _changed_ that light. It broke or something, and they put in a new lamp. But _this_ light is... red, say. Whatever colour manhood is. You would look at your thoughts, and feelings, and memories- the same pictures, in the same places- but they'd all look different. They'd have a different quality, an different hue. You see a new side of some images, and other details fade. There are different patterns in the carpet, or so it seems. Everything coloured by manhood."

Janna looked up at the sky, starting to cloud over. "The whole world changes in another light."

"That's what gender is", she shrugged. "It's nothing, but it affects _everything_. Like seeing a place in winter instead of summer- everything is the same, but different. So boys and girls are... the same thing, but done in a different way, seen in another light. Does that make any sense?"

Anna looked at her, a little stunned. "Kind of..."

Actually, she had been lost after 'tapestries'. This was so complicated- what happened to 'girls have the babies'?

Mind you, back in Arendelle Sara the blacksmith was hardly likely to have babies, and _insisted_ that she was a woman, in spite of the beard...

Janna looked flustered all of a sudden. "We should, um, maybe speed up a bit. We want to reach Arendelle by sundown." She spurred her horse on up the rocky path. Moody...

"And with that, she runs off..." Anna commented. Her elder sister looked back disapprovingly.

"Did you actually follow all of that?"

Elsa nodded, a smile curling the edge of her lip. "In parts. And it's progress."

She tutted fondly. "'The whole world changes in another light'. Overthinking things herself... She could have just said _that_ and saved the tortured metaphor. But it's alright- her honesty matters more to me than eloquence."

Ah, so Elsa was trying to 'reach' her, or something. And here she was, gazing after the skittish rogue, practically aglow.

Anna grinned. "That's a nice look on you."

"What is?"

"Pride... "

Elsa flushed. "This isn't... she lost her parents, Anna. Even if the Queen lives, she isn't here. We both know what that's like. And- _then_ she lost Captain Rinne, too. And she's no time to mourn any of them." She lowered her voice. "I don't know all of it, but I suspect that Rinne may have been the only one she had to talk to, who knew and halfway accepted... And I... well..."

 _She knows what that's like._ Anna was struck dumb, feeling like an idiot yet again. It was too easy to forget that, bad as it had been for those three years after losing Mamma and Pappa, it had been even worse for Elsa. She had been left with _no one_ , in a bedroom that had grown more like a cage.

It was amazing she hadn't gone crazy from loneliness. Well, she had, in a way. Of course, Anna had made a few less-than-rational moves herself, what with _Prince-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named_ and all.

And now another bereaved, hurt, magical person in sore need of a good friend had fallen into her lap. What else was she going to do?

She cleared her throat. "So, you feel like _you_ could be that person for her?"

For a second Elsa seemed startled by the question, as if she hadn't been thinking of it like that. Then she nodded quietly, cheeks reddening. Anna felt like hugging her- it was so adorably, crazily weird to see her oh-so-collected and dignified sister acting like this, stumbling this way and that like a shy teen with a crush.

 _So, yep, it's pretty serious between them now. As if Elsa could ever not be serious..._

Anna looked ahead. The North Mountain dominated the skyline. Was it still the 'North Mountain' from this side? Much closer, Janna rode back towards them along a branch in the road, gestured toward it shaking her head to indicate the way was no good, and set off down another. The goof was trying to act like she wasn't avoiding company.

"Any idea what's going to happen with you guys, once we're back home?"

Her sister's blush paled rapidly.

"Absolutely none", she admitted.

Anna gulped, her gaze drifting back to the rocky path ahead. _Well, come evening, you're gonna have to have figured that out, Elsa..._

 _I sure hope she can work something out. She needs her own Kristoff. Everyone needs their very own Kristoff, all big and snuggly and strong, and totally making life better with just a smile._

 _But I've got the best Kristoff. Except for the reindeer smell, but I kinda like it now..._

Anna decided to drop back for a bit and collect the bear cub from Gerda on the wagon. She needed somebody to hug all of a sudden.

. .

* * *

. .

"We're back on _this_?" Janna was getting prickly. The glow in her eyes wasn't too bad, though, so it wasn't true anger- she was just being grumpy. And Elsa felt she could read her... 'girlfriend'... well enough at this stage. She watched her holding her hands over the hot air rising from the ground, rubbing them together to warm them, and wondered what frostbite even felt like.

She needed to keep pushing her gently to talk about things. Anna's natural talkativeness was a fine stalking horse- her younger sister kept asking prying questions, and she could more subtly follow them up.

Elsa herself was an expert on shutting things away, and maybe could have done with someone to busybody _her_ , once upon a time. _This girl..._ Humour masked anger, anger masked pain; it was like talking to an onion. But if she persisted, one day, she might achieve candour.

Janna might really talk about her father, for instance.

Some day. But not today... Elsa sighed patiently, adjusting her ivory plait over her shoulder. She liked the style; once upon a time she had solely worn her hair tied up, self-conscious about its striking colour. Now she wore it like a crown. A mark of something she refused to be ashamed of any longer.

"We're just curious, my sweet." She gestured to herself, Anna and Olaf, sitting around a hot vent. Anna brushed crumbs from her mouth and nodded, still chewing something. "It's still new to us."

Janna rubbed her eyes. Elsa wondered if the fire was actually uncomfortable. Did it literally burn? Was she immune to it? If so, what about regular fire? Oh, too many questions...

She had kept _her_ magic secret too. Had _she_ once been ashamed?

Those scars on her arms. Starving her...

 _My parents didn't know how to help me either. But they never hurt me._

 _Mamma, I still miss you._

"I don't normally switch so often. It's just these last-"

"This steam smells weird..." Olaf interrupted as he pointed down the vent. "Is it supposed to?"

Not _now_... Elsa could have throttled the little snowman. Not that that would even work.

"It's not steam", Janna retorted impatiently. "That's a dwarf chimney. There's probably a whole castle below us."

Elsa had no idea whether to believe this or not- paradoxically, the Myrtlean sense of humour was often a mystery to her in spite of its lack of subtlety.

"Do they come up through it?" Olaf asked, wide eyed with trusting wonder.

"No, they turn to stone in sunlight. They only emerge in the dead of winter, and it means you're royally sunk, 'cause- oh."

Elsa had politely coughed, hopefully indicating to her fair companion that she should get around to answering Anna's question, or at least giving a firm refusal.

"Look", she _finally_ began, rubbing the bridge of her nose like anyone did when coming down with an Olaf-related headache, "It's not a single neat package. I think... I think I've _always_ switched, but didn't get what was happening. And I only came into my powers nine years back. But then I was always marked as a potential Lord, so I can't say there's no link."

"Marked? Who by?" Anna asked, while trying to divide the rest of her lunch ration equally with a protesting bear.

"Not like that." Janna pressed a thumb to her tattooed décolletage, not wholly concealed by her new scarf but at least shielded from the bitter wind. "I was born covered in blotchy birthmarks. Down my front. It's a Marttila thing. When I came a Lord, they developed into this mark."

 _It's not actually a tattoo?_

"Forget all this! Tell the tale!" Olaf suddenly exclaimed, bouncing up and down. Elsa was starting to regret bringing him. "How did you get your powers? Was it exciting? What happened?"

Elsa offered Jani an apologetic look. "Sorry... he didn't get a story last night."

"Although..." Anna looked curious herself. Actually, Elsa was burning to hear the story, but only if it was one Janna wanted to share with the others. It might not be, given what little she had revealed about her home life.

Janna scratched her head with an unsteady hand, trying to decide on a beginning.

"It was the second, and last time I tried to run off to sea."

Pinning the bear cub down while she broke a biscuit in half, Anna looked up at her wide-eyed. "You ran away from home twice?"

Janna snorted. "No, lots of times. But after that, not a ship. You're cornered."

She gazed up at the grey sky, reminiscing. Elsa warmed inside. The pirate did love telling stories, and told them very well...

"The first time, I was seven. I went to the docks and signed on with a trading ship as a poker." Elsa gave her a quizzical look. " _Poika_. A ship's boy. Myrtlean pinnaces have lots of pokers- orphans, poor and the like- fetching, climbing ropes, and so on."

She smiled a melancholy smile. "And yeah, like I said, I don't think I understood, that first time, why I was doing it. Why I put on boys' clothes, chopped off my hair with sewing scissors, stopped being Janna. I mean, whom could I compare myself to? It was really only when I found a copy of the _Knight and the Lady_ in the palace library that I realised that I was basically Sir Radulf in reverse..."

Elsa understood the comparison. _The Knight and the Lady_ was a... rather ribald fantasy tale about a knight who found himself cursed to spend every third month as a woman. It had always seemed rather insulting that womanhood was considered a curse, to be honest, although it did cause him a lot of inconvenience. But oh, the things that libertine got up to... he wasn't much of a lady...

Janna grinned the filthiest of grins at her. "You've read it, haven't you?"

"No!" Elsa felt the warm rush in her cheeks that meant she was blushing like a tomato.

Janna shook her head. "Bad liar."

"I got found out pretty fast, that first time. Didn't know a thing about passing. They were actually pretty nice about it. Cute little girl, wants to be a pirate, isn't it sweet... Still turned the ship straight around and dropped me off with the customs officer, of course. 'Cause shite, can't have a girl on the ship."

"Why not?" asked Anna.

Janna groaned. "Because its _bad luck_ to have a lady around... _ooh._.." She waggled her fingers spookily. "Seriously, no Myrtle captain would ever sail with a human female onboard. It's ridiculous."

"But..." began Elsa, "If women can't travel by ship, and Myrtle is ringed by mountains..."

Janna nodded. "Then you see the problem. We got to go abroad _once_ in my whole childhood, and Mother had to hire a foreign crew to take us. Myrtle is... special, in so many different ways, and will always be my home. But ultimately, any place you can't leave starts to feel like a prison."

She swallowed, frowning. "The second time I tried the same thing I was twelve. Bad ship. Hardcore raiders. I was caught again. They... weren't so nice..."

. .

* * *

. .

 _Jani blinks in the sunlight. They have dragged him onto the deck, where the captain sits hunched on a crooked little stool, as if holding court. The wall-eyed bastard snickers when he sees him._

 _No wonder- he must look a state right now. They have pulled his hat off. A loose bundle of reddish-blond hair hangs in front of his sea-grey eyes, twitching as he trembles. He tries to flick it out of the way by jerking his head, but it just falls back and dangles there, unwashed and matted. His grubby shirt has been torn open, and the belt he was using to bind is pulled down to his waist, exposing him to general view. He shudders._

 _The day is hot. He misses that hat._

 _The man holding him is huge. Blubber and muscle. Strong. He has both his wrists gripped tightly behind his back- Jani can barely feel his fingers._

 _The fat man's breath smells of onions._

 _...Bloody hell, this looks bleak..._

 _But... it isn't quite fear which is making him shake. He doesn't have a name for it, but his heart is racing. Pulsing. Kicking at the walls of his chest. His limbs seem to hum with a dozen different notes._

 _The captain is talking about him, but he doesn't really notice. What he does notice is the very fine cutlass fastened to the captain's side. He must have seen it before, lots of times, but now it is like he is looking at it through new eyes._

 _It is the most beautiful sword he has ever seen._

 _It seems to call to him, not hypnotically as such, but with a subtle certainty, as eyes that meet across a crowded room. And he knows, somehow, that it will be his._

 _His nerves are on fire. His mind is full of mud. His skin itches like a thousand ants are scurrying across his flesh, the buzz somehow focusing in on the blotchy birthmark below his collarbones. A pressure builds in his chest, squeezing his lungs, making him gasp._

 _The first mate says something inconsequential, sidling up to him and running a finger down one cheek. They are talking about what to do with him, as if that is in any doubt. Death, at best. For a moment he considers telling them who he is. No, foolish..._

 _Then all he can feel is his heart. There is a buzzing in his ears- no, in his head. He can't-_

 _...I am... I am burning..._

 _..._

 _Blood and bone._

 _Flesh and fire._

 _Black and blue._

 _Anew._

 _His heart explodes, blazing, boiling, hot fire searing through his veins, bubbling up into his head. The buzzing becomes a chorus of whispers, rising for miles around._

 _Something sparks behind his eyes, and for a moment the ship is gone. Jani has fallen off the edge of the world, and there is no sky, no sea, only an unending expanse of swirling storm clouds, lit up with sparks of sapphire blue which are many miles distant, yet he somehow knows that, whenever he wants, he could reach out his hand and grab one. The ship's message crow lingers above him, a hovering bolt of lightning, jabbering with excitement, barely intelligible._

 _Then the clouds are gone, and he is back on the ship, both bare feet on the ground, with his hands behind his back. And everything is perfectly clear. He looks at the captain. He smells of chewing tobacco and drunkard's piss. Jani sees every blemish, every stain on his coat, every hair in his knotty beard. He realises that he is laughing, and the captain doesn't understand, muttering something about mad girls. The fat man tightens his grip._

 _The captain jumps to his feet and strides up to Jani, but his threats do not matter. Jani sees it now, clear as the yellow teeth of this walking dead man. He feels his power in his bones and in his blood, and nothing will ever frighten him again. He feels the sword calling to him now, a subtle vibration in the air, a suggestion of harmony, of common nature._

 _Of magic._

 _The man behind him is strong, but still has shins. Jani breaks one with his heel. It is obvious what to do, child's play. At once his hands are free. Jani's limbs burn with bright power. He is fast, faster than he imagined possible, and he steps toward the captain quicker than he can even draw that perfect sword, that destiny sword. He slips behind the rusty old runkku, skilfully cracking his kneecap on the way, deftly punches him in the kidney, and, wrapping an arm around the sweaty body, draws the sword himself._

 _It is... everything he imagined. It gleams like the sun on the sea. Its magic joins with his, seamlessly, hand in glove, bringing strength, clarity, focus. God, this is what sex must be like._

 _He draws the blade first through the mate, splitting flesh and bone as if they were blancmange, then whips it back through the captain's head with a bright and bloody spurt. The sword seems to guide his hand, nudging his strikes in the right direction, elevating his form to a perfect dance of laceration. Beautiful as their collaboration is, it is scarcely needed, as his blood tells him where to step, when to block and thrust, muscle memories from other lives. The sword soundlessly sings a greeting to him._

 _The bodies thud against the deck, blood spattering the boards, and he knows he should be shocked, horrified, but all he can feel is joy. He has come into his own. He is fire. He is blood._

 _The message crow lands on the captain's body, and peers at him. Echo. His name is Echo. He awaits._

 _They've been waiting for him. Raven, crow, magpie and rook, bright souls glimmering in shadowed skies. They've been waiting for so long._

 _The rest of the crew advance upon him, dull blades in hand, feeble mites all. He is not afraid. He will never be afraid again. He will never be weak again. He will never be out of his depth, and never lost. Never unarmed, never without allies._

 _He knows now. He is lord of the crows, master of the carrion birds._

 _And they will be fed._

. .

* * *

. .

"Oh, good gravy."

Anna had her hands over her mouth. Elsa wasn't sure whether it was shock or amusement. She was a little overwhelmed herself by the story's... intensity...

 _Don't think about the mark. Don't think about looking at the mark. Definitely don't think about feeling the mark..._

"What?" Janna retorted.

Anna eyed the Lady of Crows' scabbard. "I... just realised why you call your sword Snake..."

 _But, what would... Oh!_

Janna laughed out loud, rocking back on her seat- which was in fact a rock. "Precious- only took you a couple of weeks." She wiped a tear from her eye, patting her blade affectionately where it lay against her hip. "Wasn't exactly subtle. What'd I have to do, just outright call it _Kyrpä_? Or, the Iron Cock?"

"Janna!" Elsa exclaimed, nodding towards an as yet possibly, _hopefully_ oblivious Olaf. She had warned her suitor more than once to mind her language around the sometimes... _unworldly_ snowman.

Looking puzzled, Olaf scratched his cheek, lost in careful consideration...

. .

 _A full minute later..._

"I don't get it. Should we play a game?" Olaf slumped back onto his butt and started watching the clouds.

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief.

. .

* * *

. .

 _Blood and bone exact their due_

 _Flesh and fire re-alloy_

 _Black and blue_

 _Master new_

 _Death undying, we destroy._

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

50 chapters... and we're not even back at Arendelle yet. Don't worry, we're nearly there. And then more drama. And then some more. There's plenty more of this story to tell. Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing :)

. .


	51. Chapter 51- Homeward, Part 1

CHAPTER 51- Homeward, Part 1

* * *

. .

Halla the ice dragon roared, lungs like icy bellows ripping the air asunder, crystal claws scratching at the frozen rock like nails on a blackboard, wings beating like a hurricane.

The little bear cub roared back. Well, not really a roar. More of a very threatening squeal, like a piglet with a grudge. Soft, oversized paws slapped against the ground inaudibly.

"Wait! Wait!" Janna insisted, holding Anna back with her good arm. "I want to see who wins."

"He's a baby!" The Arendelle princess tried to wiggle her way out of the Myrtlean princess' grip.

Janna nodded over to Olaf, nursing his chewed stump of a nose like he feared the cub might finish the job. "A baby with a strong record against Elsa's other creations. Great run of form. I say it's worth letting it play out." She winked at Edvin, who seemed to be taking bets from the other Myrtlemen. "Five silver on the colossal bloody dragon, though."

"Enough from _all_ of you." Elsa strode up to the bickering creatures, picking up the cub and tapping the dragon firmly on the nose. "And that includes you. **No bullying**." Halla shrank slightly, like a scolded hound. This pleased Elsa more than she cared to admit- it was nice to be listened to. The Myrtleans groaned, uniformly disappointed that the mismatched showdown was cancelled. Except Janna, who smiled dreamily the way she did any time Elsa used 'The Voice'.

She pointed to the huge rockslide blocking their path. "You're going to help us with this. Oh, don't worry," she said, as the dragon stared up at the wall of rubble that lay across the only mountain route remotely fit to pull a wagon through. "You'll not have to do it all yourself. It's time to meet the rest of your family."

. .

* * *

. .

Marshmallow sat on the floor of the ice palace, thinking. He liked thinking, although he often thought of nothing in particular. Clouds were on his mind now. Big stormy clouds, little wispy clouds. Clouds.

Snowgies were around. Several of them were trying to lift him. It wasn't working, so he stayed in place, thinking. Contemplating the many shards of his reflection, suspended in the glassy walls of his home, breaking across the frozen facets. If he could reach into a snow cloud, would he see a billion billion pieces of Marshmallow, one in every angle of every snowflake?

All at once there was a strange crunching, scratching crash. It sounded for all the world like something had hit the roof.

Marshmallow stood up, scattering miniature snowmen, and pushed open the front door, wandering out to see what had interrupted his relaxing thinking, only a few dozen hours in. Maybe Olaf? Olaf sometimes visited.

He looked up. No, not Olaf.

 _Sister?_

. .

* * *

. .

Sulo rapped his fingers against the door frame, somewhat more loudly this time. Back still turned, Kaarlo's witch seemed to pointedly ignore him, still humming away over whatever exactly he was doing, bent over a table cluttered with parchment, depleted liquor bottles, and what looked like alchemy equipment.

This was the first time Sulo had physically met the charlatan, and his mystique was not immediately obvious. He _was_ a strange figure- gaunt and long-limbed, with hair the colour of ashes tied back into a thick rope, so long that it almost brushed the floor and twitching with every small movement of that wiry frame. But the North was quite full of old fishwives and addle-headed folk magicians taking the name 'witch', and he was unclear what had drawn Lord Protector Kaarlo, who generally shared his disdain for peasant superstition to an infinite degree, to seek advice from this conjuror over all others.

Sulo was patient, however- a trait he regrettably did _not_ share with Kaarlo. At length, the witch rose from his work and turned to him. "His seneschal?"

"Chamberlain, but yes. I was told there was a matter of import."

The prestidigitator pointed out the small window of his chambers. "Around this time of day, I watch the birds, take augury. You know of the practice."

 _Naturally_ he would tell fortunes by bird flight. And perhaps tea leaves. Or a crystal ball. Sulo frowned, prepared to be asked to cross a palm with silver. "Of course I have-"

"I don't like what I see of late."

Puzzled, Sulo peered out through the fine window glass, as if any of this nonsense were within his purview. Sky. Roofs. A few scattered crows.

"What _do_ you see?"

"Nothing. That's the problem." The old man snarled. Or _was_ he old? His long hair was silver-white, but his movements were sprightly and vigorous. Clean-shaven, he had one of those ageless, weather-beaten faces which cause some men to look forty from their twenties into their sixties.

"Surely nothing is better than something dire?" Sulo replied, trying to humour Kaarlo's new pet.

This earned him a hollow-eyed glare. The witch looked him over for a few moments, in a way which made the chamberlain's bare scalp itch.

"I can tell you don't believe a word I say. Still-" The sorcerer smiled. "I like you, _palvelija_. So few of this land retain any trace of tact or restraint. Even those of high position..."

He meant Kaarlo, obviously enough. The Lord Protector's 'outbursts' had caused complications more than once. Still, he refused to be drawn by such an obvious jibe. _Palvelija... '_ servant' _._

"The more insightful response would be to ask, what fell influence grows so great in Martella that the natural laws of flight, feeding and migration are disjointed? Even so is augury made blind. But I forget I speak to a functionary." The strange vagabond shook his head irritably and turned back to his work. Reaching into a bowl of unidentifiable dark liquid, he pulled out a long, thin dagger, which he held up, dripping, to Sulo, as he rose to his feet.

Regarding intently the knife he grasped, the witch then mumbled a few bars of an unfamiliar song, almost under his breath. Sulo struggled to make out the words, which were Marsher, but oddly intoned.

As the verse continued, there was a strange _snap_ in the air, and the bright blade of the dagger turned black as pitch.

A conjuring trick, no more. Wasn't it? Some chemical that cured in air?

The unsettling man then, with no further theatre, slid the knife into a silver sheath and held it out for Sulo to take.

"Here, _hovimestari_. Tell your master that this will do the task quickly and assuredly."

Sulo nodded, in something of a hurry to leave and weary of archaic insults. "As you will. Anything else?"

"Tell the man who bears it to strike at the heart. And on no account touch the blade."

Sulo marched out of the witch's quarters, feeling immediately the better for being rid of that stare... Kaarlo would be pleased that this task was done- although surely an assassin, if even needed, could use _any_ weapon? No doubt the soothsayer had planted the idea to increase his indispensability.

But... whatever _was_ that song he had sung? There had been something admittedly _haunting_ about it, although Sulo had only discerned a handful of the words.

 _Talven sydän... something else... teräs... kiven sydän?_

Heart of winter... heart of stone.

. .

* * *

. .

"Breathe, Janna. I got you..." Elsa had laughter in her sky-blue eyes.

Janna scowled, watching Marshmallow carelessly flinging boulders down the mountainside, clearing their way, while a giddy Olaf clung to his brother's shoulders and whooped delightedly. She was normally the one _dishing out_ the mockery.

"I didn't scream. I didn't scream with Olaf, and I didn't scream this time."

"It _sounded_ like a scream..." The Queen wasn't letting this go.

She gritted her teeth. "I had just seen a dragon made of ice air-drop a _gigantic_ _living snowman_ onto a pile of rocks ten feet in front of me. So, faced with that, a ' _wow!'_ of astonishment is a perfectly bloody normal response." A large rock bounced down the slope, dropped into a crevasse and actually _shattered_ somewhere far below them with a sound like a cannon firing.

Elsa giggled. "It wasn't a ' _wow!'_ though. More of a ' _woaaargh_!'..."

"Enough." Janna raised her hand. "This is not to be spoken of. I have a very scary reputation to create and/or maintain."

Elsa nodded seriously. "Yes, dread Lord. None of your foes must hear of your one weakness- snow sculptures."

Janna gave up. She should probably just be grateful that the snow giant had landed while Anna was off taking a leak- the younger Arendelle sister would have jumped right on this.

It was still better than getting the third degree about her identity. She was a pretty forthcoming person, normally, kind of, but how was she to explain manhood to a pair of sodding women? She'd _tried_ \- opened her mouth and a bunch of words had come out, but they'd just seemed bemused. It made her feel like a joke.

Not to mention it was a bit... private.

Once they were safe and dry, maybe a bit more time alone with Elsa was in order. To talk about the serious stuff without little sisters, servants bringing things, or Olaf... _perkele_ , that _Olaf._..

"What would a phobia of snowmen _actually_ be called?"

Elsa thought hard, fussing with her plait. "Something-phobia... Ooh... I should know this." She got out her sketch pad. "I'll look it up after we get back tonight, or it will only bother me."

She wrote herself a note in the corner of an already-illustrated page. A picture caught Janna's eye, and she pressed it down with her finger when Elsa tried to close the book.

"Is that _me_?"

Elsa flushed. "Yes..."

 _The face is mine, but the outfit..._

"You're designing me clothes?"

"Not... It's only... I had ideas", the Queen stammered, pleasingly embarrassed.

 _Still..._

Janna turned back a page, finding more sketches.

"Damn, I look _good_..."

. .

* * *

. .

"They're rocks."

"They're _trolls_." Anna jumped off her horse, pulling off her gloves and hat in response to the relative heat of the _actual_ steam vents. Apparently _this_ was where they were stopping.

Dismounting, Janna followed Anna as she half limped, half skipped her saddle-sore way into the centre of the valley. It looked like some kind of prehistoric structure- a flattened central area with tiers stepping up away from it like a kind of crude lyceum. The whole place was covered in small, relatively regular boulders. Nice and all, but not quite the quickest way they could have gone to reach town.

But as she reached the centre, there was a strange thickness to the atmosphere. Myrtle was far behind, and the Lady of Crows was not nearly so _connected_ to things here, but there was magic around. Something old and inaccessible.

Not wanting to miss a chance to tease Anna, however, she tapped one of the stones experimentally, and shrugged as if unimpressed. "Well, I've never seen one, but _sure_ , I'll take your word for it. Do they _do_ much?"

It was fun, needling the girl. In that, she reminded Janna of her little brother Jalo. Although Anna hadn't squired half the young maids in Myrtle. Ugh, that boy. How could _he_ be her King, now? But she honestly hoped he was safe in whatever sort of prison Kaarlo had decided to keep him in. He _certainly_ wouldn't be cooperating...

Anna pouted. "Look, it's daytime, and you can't wake them up if it's too bright." She looked about them and scowled bitterly. Her hand was resting just below her collar, touching that necklace of hers through the fabric of her dress.

"Okay..." The nettlesome redhead seemed more upset than she should. Janna stepped up to her. "Bloody hell... Look, I believe you, okay?"

Anna blinked. "What? No, it's not that, it's just-" She took in the valley with a sweep of her hand. "It's dumb. I thought there was a chance Kristoff would be here."

"But... you'll see him in a couple more hours anyway."

"That's why it's dumb." Anna sighed unhappily. "But all the same."

Janna wasn't sure what to do. She raised her good arm and carefully patted Anna on the shoulder in what was hopefully a comforting way. It probably looked even more awkward than it felt. "And that's why you wanted to go through here, huh?"

"Janna, take a seat over there. This should have been done in the morning."

Looking around, Janna cringed to see Elsa and Gerda approaching with fresh bandages, pins, scissors, and basically all they had rustled up to serve as a makeshift medical/sewing kit. Even the presence of the Queen could not make this experience pleasant...

. .

* * *

. .

She was struggling to keep calm. Elsa could tell. The little winces, the watering of her eyes, the fact that the tears were steaming slightly...

It wasn't easy even to watch Janna's wound being redressed, although Gerda was being very gentle. Elsa wondered if they paid the old servant enough for all she did for them- or if that would even be possible. She resolved to order her some flowers as soon as they returned.

The discarded bandages lay on the ground; they were caked in something purplish-black and slightly crumbly, like soot. This must have been what Jani meant when he said his blood broke down quickly.

The wound had healed impressively after only a day, but still looked harrowing- vessels and tendons severed, crushed or mangled. As Gerda cleaned the ugly bite with warm water from a volcanic spring, the faintest of whimpers escaped the princess' clenched teeth, twisting Elsa's stomach into a knot.

 _My poor girl..._ The worst was past, but she was struggling. Her whole body was tense. The smell of smoke hung in the air. It seemed silly- but she supposed just because Janna was some big, tough warrior, it didn't mean she couldn't have a problem with...

 _Marks on her arms._

" _The times they tried to cure me"_

A problem with doctors. Of course...

Elsa scolded herself. _I'm such a fool. Really._

She reached out for Janna's left, but the princess drew it back sharply, as if the contact had startled her out of whatever dark corner of memory her mind had drifted back to.

"Sorry, I..." Elsa extended her own hand again. "I find it helps me, if I hold someone's hand."

Janna took her hand and gripped it hard. Almost painfully so, but bearable.

" _Any_ someone?" she asked, forcing a rakish grin which normally came easily.

Elsa looked warmly over at Anna, who was having a sit-down with Olaf and the cub, hopefully a peace summit. " _Particular_ someones."

"That ain't grammar, your Majesty."

Elsa gave her suitor a hard look. "Neither is 'ain't', and besides... Oh, shush- I'm tired."

"Yes Miss."

It was a bit much for Janna to try to correct _her_ speech...

Her smile seemed a lot more genuine now, though. That was... nice.

 _She liked my drawings. That is also nice..._

Finishing the bandage, Gerda gave the Elsa a knowing look. Elsa was reminded of their conversation yesterday, before the draugs and... everything... had she been right? Or was she just the faithful servant, who gives the Queen the advice she thinks the Queen wants?

No one understood. No one understood both the hope, and the perils that sprang from the warm hand she was holding so, so tightly, not the way she did. In the end, it was a choice she'd have to make for herself.

This was undiscovered country. A decision no well-remembered fatherly advice could guide her in. A path that no one could define for her.

A weight of such wonderful and terrible consequence, resting wholly on her shoulders, with nothing to guide her save her own blind and foolish heart.

And, whatever she would do in the end, _that_ was what scared her most of all.

. .

* * *

. .

 ** _Sí liéve di savèr, d'erròr di carca,_**  
 ** _Ch' i' medèsmo nòn só quèl ch' io mi vòglio;_**  
 ** _E trémo a mézza state, ardéndo il vérno._**

 _So light on wisdom, so heavy with confusion am I  
_

 _that I know not what I want myself._

 _And so in Summer, I shiver; in Winter, I burn.  
_

 _-Petrarcha, Canzoniere 132  
_

 _. ._

* * *

 _. ._

 **Notes:**

 _Chionoandrophobia_ , in case anyone wondered. _Chionophobia_ for a more general fear of snow as a phenomenon.


	52. Chapter 52- Homeward, Part 2

CHAPTER 52: Homeward, Part 2

* * *

. .

Elsa smiled tenderly, watching Anna fuss over the little bear she was sharing a saddle with. The altitude was decreasing now, and they rode side by side down conifer-filled banks, the rest of the party rumbling along behind them, as alpine rock slowly gave way to green grass and scarlet summer flowers. Sweet memories stirred, blossomed up in her mind... the time Jani had shown her a field of wild flowers...

The cub tried to gnaw on the poor horse's ear. Anna drew it back against her lap quickly, with a yelp of alarm- not wanting the mare to panic and throw them both.

Maybe Janna had a point about the beast. Still, the castle had room for a small menagerie...

"Have you _still_ not named him?"

"Aw, it's tough..." Anna scratched behind a fluffy ear, eliciting a squeak of appreciation.

"But what if Kristoff _is_ at the quarry? You'll say 'Hi sweetie-pie, we have a bear now.' And he'll say 'Right... what's his name?' And you'll say... 'Oh, um, I dunno. It's tough?'"

"I _don't_ sound like that." Anna looked behind them. "Will Janna catch us up? She said she only needed to pee."

"We won't get far ahead of her with the wagon." Elsa sighed. Maybe it took longer with one hand. Best not to dwell on that. Or maybe she was off talking to her crow friends again. She'd been taking more time sending birds off scouting- probably paranoid after they got ambushed by a horde of undead giants.

"I'll be so much happier when I see him face to face again..." Anna said, suddenly. "Janna arranges letters, and they help, so much, but..."

"But you still worry?" Elsa suggested.

"But I still _miss him_. And yes, I worry about what he's getting up to. He says Sven has gone off somewhere, and _he's_ the sensible head of the two." She giggled at her own joke.

"You know..." Anna's expression turned wistful. "I just remembered where I've seen that look you gave Janna after we pestered her into opening up. Kind of worried, but proud- like a mom watching a kid play sports."

Elsa wasn't entirely comfortable with that characterisation, but didn't want to sour the mood by being cranky. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Anna beamed. "It was how you looked at me, after I told you I'd asked Kristoff to marry me."

"Well, I _was_ proud." Elsa tucked a loose lock of coppery hair into Anna's riding bonnet. "You'd made a mature and thoughtful decision."

 _Not like the other time..._ Kristoff was an infinitely better man than her previous choice, but it would be unkind to bring _him_ up.

Anna blushed. She wasn't much better at taking complements than Elsa was. "Thanks for always understanding. Even though he isn't a prince."

Oh, compared to what their return might unleash, that scandal was _nothing_...

"Anna..." Elsa shook her head. "I want you to be happy."

Her sister seemed pleased but dissatisfied. "Elsa, I'm not a kid. I know Kristoff's background made problems. You have to know it means a lot, that..."

"You don't have to-" Elsa cut in then, because if she started welling up then they'd have to stop yet again...

"Yeah, I do." Anna looked at her, her turquoise blue eyes deadly serious. "I was _meant_ to find a prince. That's what princesses do. But when you _know_ something's right, you _have_ to follow your heart, hang on, even if it seems impossible. Or all you end up with is regret."

Elsa hesitated, feeling put on the spot in a way that was quite suspicious. "Have you been talking to Gerda, by any chance?"

"Well, I did... wait." Anna's face lit up. "Is _that_ what you were seeing her about, yesterday, before the whole monster hullabaloo?"

"'Hullabaloo?' Really?" Elsa was relieved to hear Janna's voice, as she rode up behind them. "Sometimes it's _extremely_ obvious that you two are from Arendelle..."

. .

* * *

. .

They had been riding uneventfully for another hour or two, and now the Myrtleans were starting to sing. Badly. Janna dropped back to join them at the rear guard. Another bottle was being passed around- Edvin must have been rationing the booze, in case the journey got held up again. No need now.

She reached the trio of surviving fellow-countrymen as they finished a rousing attempt at The Harlot and the Ring, while getting most of the words wrong. It had to be _good_ shit in that bottle.

Roar saw her and cheered, his sullen exterior softened in the way only excessive boozing can achieve. "Mi'Lady! Magic death lady something! Have a cup!"

"Having fun, lads?" Janna looked around at the others. None of them seemed to be able to get their eyes to point in the same direction.

"You've got to knock one back, sir!" Odd insisted, gesticulating clumsily. "It's rough, but it goes down easy, just like _Roar's_ mam."

"Hey..." Roar protested drowsily. " _My_ mam's no drab."

"Aye, so what's her excuse? _Mine_ takes bright silver coin, not-"

"That'll do, boys." Edvin hurriedly, holding out the bottle to Janna. Wrinkling her nose at the acrid concoction, she took a gulp.

 _Hmm... fermented kitchen scraps... unrefined and severely contaminated... distilled in a rusty tin can... undertones of muddy boot... and just a dash of amanita._

The only consistent rule governing soldier's moonshine in any culture is that the mixture should be potentially lethal for humans. As a forest monster pumping eight pints of poison through her heart, Janna felt a slight tingle in the back of her throat, before her blood greedily consumed the toxins.

Then she coughed, and blew smoke out of her nose.

"Okay, okay..." she gasped, when she and the other Myrtleans had stopped laughing enough to speak. "Blow me... bit like the time I drank tobacco water." Whispering a few calming words into the ear of her startled horse, she handed the bottle along, running a hand through her dark tangles. "Now that I've wetted my throat, let's do another."

"We could have another stab at the _Ring_."

"Odd, no." Janna tried to think. "One you're not too sodden to remember right."

 _Homeward, set the sail..._

Wait... what was that? Sounded like-

 _Through the lashing ocean gale..._

Janna raced past the cart to the vanguard, where the Arendelle sisters had stolen their idea.

 _Far across that lonely sea_

 _Waits a one who waits for me..._

Elsa's voice sounded like butter and honey...

" _Vey..._ Elsa! Anna!" Janna jutted out her chin. "Random nautical sing-alongs are _our_ thing. Get your _own_ thing. Stop appropriating _our_ things."

Olaf had his hands over his mouth, looking genuinely perturbed. "Is singing shanties... _racist_?"

She smiled wickedly. "Mayhaps."

"But I sing _all the time..._ "

Janna feigned a gasp of horror. The snowman's lip started to tremble.

"Oh, don't tease him." Anna stuck her tongue out. "We have sailors too, you know. It's not _your_ song."

Janna laughed. "We've a pirate culture, ginger-nut. If we like something, it's ours."

The Queen tittered, a smile of amusement perfecting her face. "Only if you can keep it, my Lord."

Something in her tone was... Janna could have sworn she caught the subtlest of winks as well, but that was so... _Is Elsa learning to flirt?_ Irrespective, she could feel her ears glowing. It was no fair fight- Elsa had too much of a hold on her _without_ actually trying.

Then Edvin started the Myrtlemen singing again, and it wound up turning into a group effort.

. .

* * *

. .

 _Homeward, set the sail_

 _Through the lashing ocean gale_

 _Far across that lonely sea_

 _Waits a one who waits for me_

 _.._

 _Plough on, through the brine_

 _Long it's been, but she'll be mine_

 _Were her bright eyes blue or green?_

 _Far too many nights it's been_

 _. ._

Everyone was singing together, which Elsa hadn't expected. The Myrtleans in the party all seemed to know the words. She supposed the song was popular with sailors all over. Predictably, it was soaked in melancholy- boys _acted_ tough, but scratch the surface and really they were all about the fluff.

She recognised the terrain they were riding through- the clumps of aspen mixed with the fir, the tingling chill in the air. Not far now.

 _. ._

 _Well I know I've aged_

 _Fierce and fabled wars I've waged_

 _'Midst the battle, sword in fist_

 _Lost without the girl I've missed_

 _.._

 _Homeward, through the night_

 _Guided by the harbour light_

 _Far too many nights have passed_

 _Since I saw my lady last_

 _. ._

The tune was a kind of soft country ballad, although the Myrtleans did their best to turn it into a battle chant. It was as if they were _afraid_ of singing gently, in case somebody didn't take them for pirates. Boys...

Janna acted like that. Sometimes thinking of her as a boy made more sense _whatever_ she was wearing. Or did it just make it easier for _Elsa,_ to see her like that? It was all so confusing still...

. .

 _There upon the shore_

 _Waits the one I've waited for_

 _What's the use of gold and fame_

 _Without that one... what was her name?_

 _.._

 _She waits, she must! I'll meet her there_

 _And see if she is dark or fair_

 _I know I've been too long at sea-_

 _She cannot have forgotten me?_

 _. ._

"Look!" Anna yelped, bouncing in her saddle. They were nearing the valley where the Queen had established the quarry, and her little sister was pulling her hair out with excitement at the thought of her fiancé being there. Patience had always been more Elsa's strength.

"If this is a quarry, then were is the-" Janna stopped short, inhaling sharply. Elsa smiled at that. Newcomers to the valley took a while to get used to the sudden chill.

Arendelle's 'quarry' was a small mountain valley, formed around a freshwater stream which ran, widening gently, from the cavernous hills in the north-west down into the fjord. It was a picturesque place, but the crow lord's attention was predictably drawn more to the climate. Here, in midsummer, the grass glittered silver with frost. The wind had a sharp edge. And the upper course of the river was capped over with a thick tongue of ice, slowly but ceaselessly advancing downstream, from which a team of Sami were hacking and carving thick blocks.

"An _ice_ quarry..." The Northern princess looked suitably impressed, dark eyes wide with wonder. "Is that a thing?"

Elsa shrugged. "It is now. I thought of just making a lot of ice with my powers- but the ice I create directly always ends up with magic in it. People can't put _that_ in their drinks. But..." She gestured proudly towards the swelling ice shelf in the distance. "I realised I could create a place- a small place- where it was always winter."

Of course, weather was a very complex system, and half a mile east was a gorge in which a thunderstorm had been raging every afternoon for the past ten months. But that _seemed_ to be the only real side effect...

"Enough talk! I see him!" Anna screamed, galloping past them towards a cluster of wooden cabins further up the valley path. Sure enough, a number of men were emerging from the larger cabin. She spurred Linnea on after her younger sister.

As they drew near the figures, one started to run towards them. It was Kristoff- no mistaking that blond mop. Anna hopped off her horse and charged at him; when they met the big iceman was nearly knocked on his back by the force of Anna's hug. He regained his balance, and wrapped his arms around the red-head as if she'd been away for a year instead of a fortnight.

"Aw..." Janna rode up beside the Queen. Elsa nodded, watching the reunited pair embrace tightly, rocking softly back and forth together.

It was almost like a little private dance. Except with no musicians, outside, in a frozen valley. Still, she wasn't judging, under the circumstances. Seeing their happiness, she felt her own heart throb with warmth.

"This _is_ the Lapp she's marrying, right?" Janna murmured. Elsa nodded and shushed her.

The other men were palace guards. One stepped sharply up to Elsa and saluted. "Your Majesty!"

His face screamed urgency. Elsa dismounted carefully- saddle-sore as she was from this trek, she could get off a horse quickly or gracefully, but not both- and drew herself up straight. "Report, soldier."

"Ma'am, we- we were sent to fetch Sir Kristoff. Since he... _was_ in charge."

Folding her arms sternly, Elsa raised a regal eyebrow, taking, she had to admit, some small satisfaction in seeing the man shrink back slightly. "Well, _I_ am 'in charge' now. So what has happened?"

. .

* * *

. .

 _Not good. Pirates. Pirates are bad._

Kristoff clung on to Anna for dear life as they galloped along the winding path. There _was_ a much better road, but that led behind the city to the storehouse, so maybe they were headed direct to the fjord. Or maybe Elsa just didn't remember it- they were chasing her tail, after all.

Them and the lucky ones on horses, that was- Olaf was bouncing along on foot, and he and the wagon were retreating into the distance. Kristoff wasn't worried though- he was too busy worrying about the crashing branches and toppling trunks as that huge _ice monster_ bounded merrily along beside them, like a huge, spiky, tree-crushing house cat.

There was too much to take in. He'd just gone up to the quarry to see how the guys were doing- and to check, for the thousandth time, that Sven hadn't popped up anywhere. Then, out of the blue, guards had shown up, with some important news that meant he was needed at the castle. Then, moments later, _Anna_. Without him even expecting it.

 _Anna_. That had been one amazing thirty seconds. It had been like the whole valley had melted away, and there had been no one in the world but her and him. Somehow she still had that stuff in her hair that smelled like strawberries...

And then the guard had spoiled it all by mentioning pirates.

The horse they were on was struggling to keep pace with the Queen, who was some way ahead of them, closely followed by a short-haired woman Kristoff hadn't seen before. She _had_ to be the Princess Janna, who had apparently caught Elsa's interest where so many doomed suitors had failed. The long and ragged leather coat, the whole black-and-blue colour scheme- they all said 'Myrtle' pretty clearly, but it was the blazing blue eyes when she glanced behind that _really_ screamed 'scary magic lady'. A lot of other people, that could have knocked them sideways, but between his army of overbearing troll moms and his ice-bending future sister in law... yeah, he was getting weirdly numb to all this. But... a dragon. A _dragon_.

Something strapped to his fiancée's thigh knocked against his leg as they rode. Had Anna been wearing a _sword_ this whole time? Who had trusted _Anna_ with a sword? She had almost killed a man with a _fork_ once.

Elsa and Janna screeched to a halt on the cliff overlooking the harbour, and he heard the Queen cry aloud. When they caught up, Kristoff saw why.

So many pirates...

The Myrtle princess dismounted in a single silent bound, like a cat, and peered down at the scene in the fjord. Kristoff couldn't make any tactical judgements, but he saw a grey-sailed ship pulling up to the docks, deck bristling with armed men. As he watched, a second ship fired a cannon volley into one of the warehouses, sending splinted wood flying. More ships were further out...

"Four of them", Janna stated grimly, breaking the horrified silence. "The dark-sailed pair are Myrtlean raiding pinnaces- see the iron-clad bows for ramming? But those two-" She pointed sharply to two large, powerful-looking warships gliding in from the gulf, flying burgundy-red banners adorned with white swans. "Those have Southern Isles colours- they're- actually _in_ on the attack, but letting the Myrtlemen lead the assault because they're too lily-livered and shite. That's your technical naval parlance, excuse me."

"They've allied?"

"Red-scarves don't have _allies_ , they have vassals", Janna spat. "But everything's buggered whatever which way."

"Oh, God... What are we going to do?" There was a tremor in Elsa's voice. Kristoff gulped. If she lost control _now_ , they were done for.

"I don't..." Janna mumbled, greyly, "I can't keep doing this..."

. .

* * *

. .

 _Homeward, roving done_

 _For the priest to make us one_

 _You'll wed the boy who went to war_

 _.._

 _Although_

 _.._

 _I'm not him_

 _.._

 _Any more._

. .

* * *

. .

Notes: Sorry it's been so long. Oh, yes, there's to be a barney.


	53. Chapter 53- Walk on Water, Part 1

CHAPTER 53: Walk on water, Part 1

* * *

. .

"You're gonna have to be a bit subtle, you know."

 _What?_ Jani shook himself out of his reverie and looked up at Rinne. "Eh?"

The big man snorted. " _Paska_ , you were mesmerised. You think barmaids can't tell when you're looking down their frocks?"

Jani felt himself redden, self-conscious. The busoms in question wobbled their way to the other end of the tavern, where their owner delivered ale and buttered bread to some appreciative fishermen. Hungry or no, their eyes all seemed to err in the same direction as his.

"Boys _look_. I'm nearly thirteen."

"Well, what about when you're at the palace, then? All them chambermaids." The gruff old walrus seemed unimpressed. "Where you should be _now,_ I note. Are they looking for you yet?"

"Maybe?" Jani shrugged, nursing his ale. From landing in the summer garden, ditching his dress and tracking down a suitably shabby bar, where a certain guards officer happened to stop for lunch one or three times a day... it had only been a few hours. But he'd probably been missed at supper.

Grunting moodily, the sergeant pointed towards the creaking door which led out onto the uneven streets and myriad smells of the market district. "There are places, around town, where you can be yourself. Let it all out. Maybe I'll show you them when you're older. But you've got to be careful, lass-"

"Lad."

"Shit, whatever. Make sure the only people who _know_ are the ones you _allow_ to know."

Jani eyed the old scrote, bristling. "Yeah? Like you?"

"Like me. More ale!" Rinne emptied his mug and gestured to the wench impatiently. Jani smiled, reminded of those soft, warm, pillowy- _Stop. Just stop, Jani. Voi kyrpä... being all super-charged isn't making puberty any easier_...

"How'd you even get out?" Rinne asked, thankfully dropping the other subject for now. "You're a hundred feet up in a granite fortress and, as we've established, not subtle."

Jani smirked, tucking a loose strand of hair up into his hat. It was a shapeless woollen thing, but inconspicuous. He needed a new one- something cooler. "You're the copper. You tell me."

" _Perkele_. I'm not trying to _stop_ you, you wily shit. Buggery knows you'd only get out anyway, and then I'd not be able to keep an eye on you."

"Yeah. 'Cause _I_ need protecting!"

Rinne rolled his eyes, waving to get the barmaid's attention again. She tarried by the large table- one of the fishermen was trying his luck, and she seemed to be somehow impressed with him, to Jani's annoyance. _Oh, if I were five years older... and could grow a beard..._

"You don't need protecting. You need an eye on you. There are worse prices to pay than your life or your lady-flower."

"Like what?"

"When you're _older_. But then I won't need to tell you." Rinne rubbed his eyes. "Seriously, how _did_ you get out? The castle detail say you're up in a tower and they lock you in your room half the time."

"They will after this, for damn sure." Jani rolled his eyes. "You want to know?"

"I asked."

"The big secret?"

"Don't be a prick, lad."

"Fine. Here it is. I jump." Jani grinned. "That's it- just need a window. All the way down, and I land like a downy feather."

Rinne looked at him, blinked, and then rested his head on the bar, exhaling with a weary sigh. "I wish I knew when you were bullshitting me..."

. .

* * *

. .

 _Take my hand, Janna! Breathe. Talk to me..._

 _I can't. I can't kill my own to save yours. Not any more. I feel it..._

 _Is there any other way?_

 _Janna?_

 _Is there?_

… _There is._

. .

* * *

. .

Alf peered out through the hatch nervously. He was only a powder monkey and too young for pillaging, but they were finally going to be in a real fight. Maybe he could just watch.

None of the grown-ups noticed the poker _poking_ his head up- they were running around, swearing, shouting, pointing at everything. He'd been expecting more songs- was something wrong? The silly wooden tower of Arendelle's castle... or palace, maybe... rose up above its stout stone walls, asking to be set on fire. Pappa had said this would be easy pickings. Easy pickings.

Mamma had been scared, told him to stay home. She'd told stories about the witch of Arendelle. Someone had cursed her, or maybe she'd never really been human at all. This country had a Queen who could turn people to ice.

But no, Pappa had said- easy pickings. She was marooned up in the forest, food for wolves. Kaarlo had given the order. Easy pickings.

So where were the songs? Why was the captain yelling?

He realised that the panicked raiders were all pointing the same way. He shielded his eyes from the low sun, and looked off to the west.

He felt the blood drain from his head, leaving a kind of sick, dizzy feeling that nearly tipped him backwards down below-decks. _That's no bird._

"Dragon!" someone cried. "They have a bloody dragon!"

. .

* * *

. .

"Are we really doing this?!"

" _P-paska_ , but it's _c-cold_! C-clearly, yes, we are!"

Elsa and the other one clung to Halla's spine, gibbering to each other as their kind always did. She found it distracting; there were air currents to navigate, and her creator's feelings bubbled and sank and mutated, diffusing through her icy frame like the very light. But a steely blue shaft of determination ran through them all; Halla focused on that.

Wooden contraptions swam ponderously through the waves below, filled with more tiny, warm people. Their significance escaped her, but she wanted to smash them. Like those marrow-sucker things who had tried to eat her- but so much easier. Her thorax thrummed happily at the thought.

"I'm not sure you've thought this through!" she heard Elsa scream, the only way to be audible over the sound of beating wings and blasting wind. Halla twisted under them, soaring down towards the bay in a series of meandering arcs, long wings glittering like frost on shattered window panes, revelling in the freedom of empty air.

"Stay calm, Elsa, you'll spook the beast! And I didn't hear anyone else having any bright ideas!"

Elsa answered by spurring the dragon into a dive, causing the other one's heartbeat to stutter in a way Halla found gratifying- as, she sensed, did her mistress. They levelled out, skimming the waters of the fjord a few dozen yards above the waves her wing beats stirred up. They began to close on the wooden- ships, they had called them? They were pulled along by huge wings of cloth, like a dragon swimming on its side.

" _Vittu_ , that was uncalled for..."

"Stay _calm_ , Janna!" The first ship was growing rapidly nearer- Halla could make out her puny crew, desperately trying to manoeuvre fast enough to track a dragon in flight. "Are you sure this is going to work?!"

The other one possessed a strange magic. It was dim and dusky, but got everywhere, like soot. Halla could see it on her maker, almost taste it on her tongue. Next to Elsa it was like comparing a star to a smoke cloud.

"Too late for committee! It has to! Keep moving so they can't train the cannon!"

Elsa grunted, and they banked hard to the left. Curving sharply in the air, Halla unleashed a blast of ice breath which seared along the waterline of the ship from bow to stern, turning the salt waters into an undulating, frozen berg which clung to the hull, causing it to list sharply and knock a couple of careless types overboard. Rising high over the main mast, she turned back and dove down like a falcon, trapping the other side, and forcing the bulk of the ship up out of the water with a colossal, shuddering groan of strained timbers. The ship bobbed atop the fjord like a nut shell, trapped on an ice cube big enough for Halla to spread out on. It would have been as easy to freeze the whole crew solid, but she had her orders.

"That's perfect! You're amazing!" Halla's maker thrummed with... _confusing_ feelings as the other one squeezed her. "Now a slow flyover, like I said!"

"Is it really safe?! I jus- _ow, my throat..._ " Elsa was clearly struggling to keep yelling.

"Relax, I don't take fall damage!"

"They have swords!"

"Detail!"

The other one steadied herself, and, as Halla rose over the stranded craft, let herself tumble from Halla's back. A moment before she let go, Halla could have sworn she got... lighter...

. .

* * *

. .

Alf clung on to the gunwale for another few seconds, until he'd convinced himself that the ship wasn't going to pitch from side to side any more. His breath was misty; the air was hazy with the strange, unnatural cold the dragon's attack had left behind.

Righting himself, slowly, he felt his knee and elbow smarting to buggery, skinned and splintered when he had slid out and across the deck. The ship was stuck at a slight slant, encased in a trap of ice like a pickpocket's neck in the pillory. All of them were trapped.

 _Mama was right. This is a bad place. A cursed place. Why are we here? I'm ten-and-a-half, I just said I was twelve. And I'm now going to die, and never will be twelve for real._

A cry overhead like a screaming thunderstorm shocked him out of his daze, reminded him that the dragon was not gone. The rest of the crew on deck were shouting, running around like angry geese. The Captain and the mate roared at each other in the centre of it. Crossbows? Spears? How would they kill ice? Fire? How would they do that?

But all for nought; before a plan could form, a familiar susurrus overshadowed the ship. A hundred heavy-winged crows beat their way down above, and settled on the stern. Not cawing, not croaking to each other- they glared, silently, at the assembled crew, watching, like old women at the gallows steps.

There was a growing darkness to the air that Alf could not put a name to. Something that tightened his chest, that closed his throat so he could hardly gasp for breath, that made the back of his neck prickle with dread.

And that was when it landed.

A slightly ragged figure alighted on the ship's wheel, weightless as a shadow, long coat flapping out against the air. The murmured questions and oaths of the crew caught in their throats, and ship fell silent. The thickening cloud overhead cast the scene in a chilling, sunless gloom.

This was ne'er the witch. It couldn't be. Although for sure it- she- was some kind of woman, however short-haired and grim-looking. Alf was just reaching the age when a lad noted such things very keen, like.

She rose, silent still, and the crows attended her. Smoke, or, in the freezing air, maybe vapour, trickled in curling white from eyes that blazed like burning coals of black and blue.

Black and blue. Whorls of fire. They were fixed on him.

He realised that this was because he was the nearest person to the woman. He was kneeling, without having really thought about doing so, or doing anything. Not that he could stand, or move away- sheer fear froze his limbs stiffer than any squall from the Snow Queen overhead. The visitor sprang down, catlike, and stepped towards him.

At the age of not-really-twelve, Alf looked up into the eyes of Myrtle.

The woman looked at him in a way that was at once angry and sad, as if he wasn't meant to be there. "Do you know me?", she whispered.

Alf tried not to tremble, ashamed not to be braver. " _Surma..._ "

Death...

She nodded, slightly, then reached out with her left hand and placed her palm against his cheek. Her skin seemed hot as fire against the cold. And suddenly he felt lighter, that he could move if he wanted to. He was still scared, but the fear wasn't binding any more. Even the sky seemed brighter. He rose, awkwardly to his feet. The faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of the woman's mouth.

" _Surma_. Sometimes, _poika_ , yes, I am", she stated, evenly. "But not for you."

This... Lady Surma, this shadow that was a Crow Lord, yet was somehow a woman, stepped past Alf towards the centre of the ship, where the crew gathered, swords bare. As she did, she jabbed a thumb in his direction, and a small hooded crow hopped up onto his arm, nearly panicking him all over again. The crow would not be shaken off, but didn't peck at him, so he let it sit on his shoulder. Clearly this was the Lady's will.

The black-haired woman stood before the captain and drew her sword with her left hand. Alf saw that her right was bandaged.

"Hello, lads. I'm _very_ upset." The crows screeched and moaned like angry old women at this. She raised her hand and they stopped.

She raised her sword to her chest. "You are here following the vanity of an usurper and tyrant. A traitor, a murderer, and a fool. You have lost your way. Your noble officers lie to you.

I am the Crown Princess Janna Marttila, and King Rikhard was my father. I am the Lord of Crows- or Lady, if you must, and my blood is Myrtle's blood. Swear yourselves to me now, and play a part in restoring Myrtle to rights. _Defy_ me", she spat, eyes sparking, "and you will not even be Myrtlemen any more. Just the slaves of another Tyrant, and _that_ only until I run you down."

She growled, low and deep as a lion, and, though Alf still trembled, he knew he had chosen _his_ side.

"Make your choice."

And then there was blood.

. .

* * *

. .

The captain and his three officers raised their sabres, glanced at each other, and charged at Janna. Two other crewmen followed in their wake.

 _Five at once. Smart_ , she thought, immediately sheathing her sword. Snake would make the fight easier, but...

The captain first- he was big, fairly fast. She could see the flecks of spit clinging to his red beard as he roared down at her, heavy blade sweeping the air. Janna glided to the left and ducked under the stroke, connecting her right forearm with his tattooed elbow and throwing his balance. A half second later her left fist connected with the base of his skull, crumpling bone. A dead man began to tumble forward...

She wasn't _actually_ super-strong, but she had centuries of practice to draw upon when directing her body's exceptional energies. Her bones were strong as steel. And, while only a pure Ulda could fully change form, Janna had discovered that she could force herself to become lighter or heavier. Her footfalls were feather-silent; her fists connected like lead hammers. And now they had taken another life of her people...

Before the captain hit the deck boards, Janna's boot cracked the sternum of the first mate with a sound like a crab being split open. She knew if she kept moving they couldn't overwhelm her. Snake would make it quicker, but...

One of the crewmen threw a knife.

Stupidly, Janna raised her right hand to catch it.

The blade passed between useless fingers and bounced off Janna's temple, chiselling out a deep gouge in the soft flesh above her right eye. _Vittu Saatana! Pain! Idiot!_

Snake would make it safer, but... she had to make a statement.

The black and blue was starting to take her, supplying a perfect focus- that peculiar clarity of rage, but bringing as well a predator's carelessness of cruelty. She knew to be wary. Another man swung at her, fiercely, crudely, assured that technique didn't matter against an opponent with no blade. Someone else tried to circle behind. Blood was dripping into her eye. A moment later her hand was buried in his throat, without her _quite_ remembering the steps leading up to that point. Too much anger, too much of the blood, too much of the magic... Then she took the offensive again, springing weightlessly over the collapsing man and pulling the crewman with the knives off his feet, dashing his head into the deck. _No promotion for you..._

She was still processing that thought when she saw the last man to oppose her collapsing at her feet, his own sword forced up through his jaw. Another blurring of consciousness. It was over.

It was _over_. She reminded her body of this. She forced her arms to her side, forced her fingers steady, forced herself to stop. She told herself _no more_. Her black heart screamed _no, more..._

A haze over her vision she had not noticed began to clear. Relief. It _was_ over. For the moment.

Apricot landed on her shoulder with the indescribable solidity of a large raven, jolting her back into the present moment.

The crew knelt before her. One by one, she accepted their oaths. She had proven herself.

She was, after all, the Crow Lord of Marttila.

The bodies of the men she had killed were still there, on the deck. The bodies were never still there, in stories- you slew the bad guys and they kind of vanished. Convenient. _They thought they were patriots,_ Janna considered; it was too much to process.

Worse prices to pay than your life. Worse indeed.

The other Myrtlean pinnace was coming into the docks, ready to discharge its complement of raiders. Janna's sharp eyes, still flushed with power, could see scattered souls among the stalls and stockpiles, ready to offer some brief, desperate defence.

 _And once again, to save your people, I must kill a few of my own. Will this be the pattern of our lives, Elsa?_

. .

* * *

. .


	54. Chapter 54- Walk on Water, Part 2

CHAPTER 54: Walk on Water, Part 2

* * *

. .

The clock tower shattered. Sprung cogwheels and lovingly painted wooden figures tumbled to the ground, crashing against the cobbles in a shower of splinters and broken slate, a stray cannonball having snapped through their fragile supports like a scythe through straw. Elsewhere in the city, stray shot from the bombardment blew holes in roofs and walls, while citizens cowered, trapped, and prayed desperate prayers for their own survival.

The Myrtlemen had swarmed over the docks, casting over market stalls and kicking crates apart in their search for battle, booty, or both. Of the former there was some to be found- a crossbow bolt flying from the window of the custom house and lodged through a careless young raider's throat before he could think to seek cover. Arendelle would not be given up wholly without a fight.

But that had been minutes ago, before the battle had been changed, and their worst fears realised. Captain Rajala stood on the afterdeck of his ship, gripping the rail tensely- watching as his men slowed in their advance, seeking about with anxious eyes not for opportunity or ambush, but escape routes. Even those battering down the door of the custom house with a broken table now dropped what they were doing and began manoeuvring into cover, and it had nothing to do with their human enemy.

Turning back to the fjord, the captain watched a great blue-white shape swoop back and forth, bat-wings beating, sorceries blasting the air, deflecting the broadsides of the Southern Islanders.

 _Cocking hell._ The witch was back! And had... _transformed_ herself into some vast horror, likely to devour them all!

How could any people accept that _thing_ as their Queen? He shuddered at the decadence of outlanders.

"Calm down, mate", chirped an unfamiliar voice. He snapped around, sword drawn- a young woman with unkempt black hair was sitting on the seaward gunwale, examining her fingernails. A fresh injury to her forehead crusted her brows with blood, but didn't seem to trouble her. Her accent was Myrtlean, but there was something too toothy, too predatory about that grin...

"Who are you?" Captain Rajala demanded, noting that her clothes were dry, but she could not have boarded the gangway from the docks unseen. "Where- How did you get here?"

"I said _calm yourself_ ", she replied, as her eyes caught aflame, black and blue, dark and bright.

" _She_ won't hurt you. But _I_ might..."

. .

* * *

. .

Halla swerved too slowly. A twelve-pound ball of hot iron broke a shimmering wing; as she flailed, another cannon blast punched a hole through her chest. Stunned, she tumbled from the air, her sole passenger still clinging to her spine...

. .

* * *

. .

Alf was just reaching land when he saw the Queen fall.

Their ship was still trapped in ice, so he'd been tapped to row the boat to the docks, bringing the new captain and mate over in the wake of the female Crow Lord. Crow Lady. _Her_.

As they'd climbed up onto the quay, his muscles aching from the labour, _she'd_ been there, the crew of their sister ship gathered around, swearing their oaths. The ground red all the way to the gangplank... and she had stood before a pile of corpses.

So, she'd had to show some more of what she was.

He prayed again that he was on the right side now. Coups, dripping heads, scarves, flags... wasn't this better? Wasn't _this_ Myrtle?

Then a roar, and a flare of light, and the dragon in the distance fell, buffeted by the Islander cannon. Princess Janna made a noise Alf couldn't describe, like a growl meeting a whimper, as blue fire flared from wide eyes.

For just a moment, she looked almost lost.

Then she ran.

Blurring-fast, snarling wordlessly, nearly knocking him into the water, she pelted along the dock towards the Southern Islander force. Reaching the edge of the water with the speed of a racing hound, she leapt, legs still cycling. When she hit the water, she continued running.

The Myrtlemen watched the Lady of Crows charge off without them, across the surface of the fjord- too quick for human legs to keep up even if they wouldn't have sunk. Some swore, some shivered.

Alf remembered his Pa saying there were animals that could run on water, in foreign parts. They weren't magic too, were they?

. .

* * *

. .

 _Chionoandrophobia, noun: A fear of snowmen._

Amid my panic, that odd thought somehow emerges. Not what I was looking for...

Halla drifts away from me, waves lapping against her unconscious bulk and freezing in razor-edged splashes of ocean blue. Vaguely, I hear myself screaming, am distantly aware of my own arms flailing, ice forming at my hands and breaking away and gathering, forming streamers, forming chains. But all I really know, in this horrible, unending moment, is the fear.

Like on the ship. When we were sailing to Myrtle, and I dreamt of Mamma and Pappa.

Of mouths choked with seaweed. Of grey hands dragging me down.

Begins with a 'T'...

Am I on the surface any more? Could I find it? I don't even know if my eyes are open or shut. All is blind and dark and smothering. Drowning, swallowing...

Like Mamma, Pappa... That was when it started. And now I feel it drawing me down, down forever, vanishing, dissolving me... and there will be nothing to bury of Elsa either...

 _Thalassophobia._

 _That_ was the word.

God, where am I?

. .

* * *

. .

Janna ran. Halla was fixed to the surface of the fjord, splayed on her back, a thick crust of ice spreading around her. It moved like a living thing, shifting and swelling under her, sending out blasts of frozen spray like cold geysers to rime the surface of the summer waters with the fractal signatures of Winter.

Janna felt herself wearying as she reached the fallen dragon, boots pounding the surface and raising a cloud of spray in her wake. Splashing footfalls turned to dry thuds as she reached the rising island of ice, not slowing.

Leaping onto the bulk of the creature, she paused for a moment to gather herself, finally allowing her mass to return to normal. It had been a long run. She was sure pure Ulda didn't find shape- and size-shifting so draining, but she was too human in her flesh. A bit of cheating with weight and momentum was all she could manage.

She saw no Elsa.

 _Shit... shit... voi luoja... Where are you, kultani..._

The dragon moved under her, waking up. Halla had a hole in her thorax big enough to crawl into, although it was half filled in with frozen seawater. Ice had accreted around her, clinging to her legs and wings- she was frozen to the island, and stunned, and useless... but where... the cold was making it hard to think straight. Janna still couldn't see Elsa... _Et alla_... _no, please God_...

Two relatively unscathed Southern Island warships floated some way off. She didn't know whether they'd spotted her; that she could see their guns tracking back towards the shore suggested otherwise.

An icy spike crashed up through the island's surface, a few feet to Janna's left, jutting up twenty feet into the sky. This was not a safe place to stop.

She had to act fast. Clambering over the miraculous beast, wounds stinging, cold searing her skin, she reached down into the hole through what she supposed was the heart.

 _Sorry about this, my girl. But I saw you form. I know what you are._

Something shadowy seeped from her hands, into the snow and crystal of Halla's body.

 _You run on rage. So this'll wake you up._

For a moment, Halla darkened, translucent ice flushed with black and blue, and Janna feared she'd given her too much.

She probably had.

Halla screamed herself awake, wings thrashing, claws ripping at the water and the air, sending Janna flying backwards, tumbling down the slope and into the water. Tearing the excess ice from herself, sending flakes and splinters and whole miniature _icebergs_ tumbling into the brine, she dragged herself back into the air.

Pilotless, rudderless, brake-less. Still screaming.

Janna didn't have time to think about that. Ducking water amid the chaotic whorl of ice and wave left in Halla's wake, the unseasonally frigid water burning every fibre of her, she pulled herself together as best she could and focused. until her senses cleared and she saw what she'd been missing. Maimed hand heavy and numb, bandages sodden with seawater, she swam back to the frozen island, which seemed to hiss at her, several new icicles jabbing out from the surface like a not-so friendly warning.

The sides had already gotten steeper in the minute or so since she'd arrived. The island ballooned, misty vapours gathering over it as the climate started to shift. Janna grabbed a spine and pulled herself up, trying not to slip back down the wet ice.

Looking down into the shattered hole left by Halla's departure, she knew she'd been right.

It was a bubble. Or a shell. Under the crust of the island, a tangle of icy knots spread like tresses, or tree roots, in black and crimson shades. Magic pulsed through columns set at an odd array of angles.

At the centre of it all, thirty feet or so below her, a young woman lay quite still on an icy floor of mirror smoothness. The island's crackling entrails bathed her in magical light, the colour of roses- or blood- reflected as a thousand glittering rubies in the crystals of her dress. She looked somehow very small amid it all.

Elsa. She wasn't _moving_ , but she was above water. And she must have- she must- she'd made _this_ , hadn't she? She had to be alright.

Janna drew Snake, and jumped. _  
_

. .

* * *

. .

Halla's rage burned cold as Hell.

Rising, gathering herself, she still felt... wrong. In her chest. Sooty black-and-blue magic she wanted to cough up, but for now it gave her the focus.

Evasive tactics abandoned, she aimed herself at the nearest ship, and bore down with all her speed on the stupid, puny pink mites and their thrice-accursed cannon.

Elsa was elsewhere, as was the companion she... enjoyed being confused by. No holding back. She allowed power to accumulate in her throat, then, closing in, she let rip with all her might, hammering the craft with freezing fire.

Aboard, timbers faded to blue-grey and cracked like bones in a brazier. Crewmen locked into place mid-action, turned to pale statues trimmed with hoarfrost. Rum turned hard as iron, in cups now welded to the hands which held them. Had any being able to survive such an onslaught stood on deck they might have found the scene oddly beautiful, in those few moments before it all was swept away.

With a reverberating crash, Halla tore through the craft amidships, hull, decks, crew and all. The ship crumpled, crumbling apart, frozen timbers shattering like glass under a hammer-blow. Masts toppled outward, tearing at frozen sails which blew apart like dead leaves. As she rose for another run, the hull was already starting to break in two.

. .

* * *

. .

"Wow." Janna blinked, shivering for more reasons than the low temperature. Even with all she'd seen and done, and all she knew, seeing a fourth-rate turn to _powder_...

Over a hundred feet of wood and tar and iron and human muscle... _shattering_...

The other Islander frigate was already halfway out the fjord. Halla was too busy furiously smashing away at the broken pieces of its companion to notice. _Let them escape. Let them tell the tale of how Arendelle was defended. Is defended_.

The island seemed to have stopped growing now the Snow Queen was clear, although it was still biting cold, and a light snow was starting to fall. By dint of pure bloody effort Janna had pulled Elsa up and out, and now they perched on top of the island, awaiting a ride to shore. Now she looked down at the woman in her arms, and brushed away a few snowflakes that had dusted her cheek. Ice didn't seem to melt when it touched Elsa, even though her skin was normally warm.

Right now, it was cold and clammy, and she'd coughed up seawater. Janna squeezed her tightly to herself, willing some of her own inexhaustable heat to pass into her, although really she knew the chill in Elsa's flesh could only be shock. She had, most likely, come close to drowning. But she was _breathing_.

She needed doctors. It was time to get her back to land. Back to her home. _She'll be safe- safe at last. For now_.

She was too battered to stand, but, in the distance, she could see a ship's gig rowing towards them. Her new Myrtleans.

Good lads. She'd been able to leave most of them alive.

What must Elsa think of her?

. .

* * *

. .


	55. Chapter 55- Life Goes On

CHAPTER 55: Life Goes On

* * *

. .

Life was already returning to Arendelle. The townsfolk had emerged, once the fighting and cannon fire had ended, and rejoiced that their beloved Queen and Princess had returned, just in time to save them from the wolf at their door. Fisherman, cook, shopkeeper, house-husband, poultry farmer- in a common spirit of patriotic joy they had picked up mop and brush to return their quaint little kingdom to a presentable state.

Already the city seemed to gleam, roof tiles red against the sun's orange light. Many were still hard at work, patching holes in rooftops, clearing away rubble. One group were applying a fresh coat of paint to a vegetable stall which had been stampeded over. As they laboured together they whistled and sang, waving gaily at passers-by, who in certain cases could only stare uncomfortably back.

"What am I cocking _looking_ at?" demanded Odd, wide-eyed. "Did they not _just_ get invaded?"

"It ain't natural," agreed Roar, his broad, bear-like frame twitching with unease. "Ah, shite- that little poker is even playing with ducklings!"

On a nearby grassy patch a small child was, indeed, herding a troop of baby ducks. He turned to their leader, plaintive desperation in his eyes. "Can we, like, mug someone?"

"No!"

"Not _badly_ \- just to take the edge off?"

Janna Marttila sighed. " _No_. No we can't- these are allies." She turned to Kai, a man Anna had steered her to who seemed to a kind of butler and chamberlain in one. So Elsa liked a small court- she approved.

"Sorry if my men are a little jumpy at first. We were being eaten alive by zombie giants the other day, so this is a weird adjustment." _Also your tidy-tidy pretty-pretty country has dainty little flowers painted all over it, and the urge to rip all the corners and scuff the finish is almost unbearably strong..._

"Not at all, we are..." Kai actually had to build himself up to finish the lie, which amused Janna no end- "... _delighted_ to have so many fine young men stationed here as... _friends_ of Arendelle."

"So kind of you." Janna grinned. "Only a handful of us actually made it through the mountains, three souls plus myself, and most of the ships' crews can stay in their hammocks, but some allowance will need to be made for shore leave."

Kai looked uncertain. "The palace rooms are... full, at the moment. The wedding of Princess Anna and young Kristoff, you understand. Some arrangement could easily be made with the local taverns, I am sure."

"That would be by far the best thing for everyone," Janna agreed. "It's hard for us to see an arse with a crown on his head and not kick it off." _Even us royals, which makes mirrors a right beast..._

Kai went an odd colour at this, but maintained his genial expression. "Princess Anna insisted _you_ be given a palace guest room. It would be good if-"

"No crown-kicking, fine. I have _pretty_ good self-discipline." Janna offered a wry smile, and received a weary look in response. "That just leaves some kind of makeshift rookery, since these boys-" She pointed at the twin Myrtlean raider ships, or rather to the several hundred crows clinging to the sails, gunwales, and every usable perching surface- "Need to stay out of the rain, too."

Before Kai could formulate a response one of Janna's 'boys', stationed outside a certain palace window, whispered something _very_ important into her mind.

She ran. "Got to scarper, sorry!" she called back to her bemused companions.

. .

* * *

. .

...

 _Crushing_

 _..._

 _Drowning_

 _..._

 _Darkness_

 _..._

 _..._

Elsa awoke with a hoarse gasp, too chokingly thirsty to scream, arms flailing in front of her desperately. But... as her eyes focused, and her head started to reorder itself into consciousness, she realised that she was no longer where she had been.

Magenta curtains quivered against aged oak bedposts. A candle flickered on the bedside table, a pale scrap of flame dancing wildly about. A familiar pile of books sat next to it, the cover of the topmost flapping open in the cold wind that-

 _The wind. That's me._

Taking slow, careful breaths, she allowed her fear to dissipate, dissolving in the warmth of a thought so wondrous, so comforting that, for a brief, precious moment, it could exclude all else from that frantic, fretful mind of hers.

The wind stopped. The candle settled and brightened. Through the glass of the window pane, the room was brightened by the deep golden light of dawn.

 _I'm home. I'm sitting in my own bed._

 _Gosh, I started that book a month ago._

 _Was that scratch on the post always there?_

 _I'm so thirsty._

 _I'm home._

 _Wait... How did I get here?_

Examining herself, Elsa noticed that she was still wearing her ice dress. She felt rather weak, as after a fever. Her head hurt- not the pounding headache of too much noise and too many burghers making demands, but the brittle headache of injury. A sprain between the ears.

 _I hit my head? And... then I was brought to the castle?_

The battle!

She had to know what had happened. If everyone was... okay. What about Janna? What about Anna? What about Kai, and all the palace staff?

 _What if we lost?_

 _What if I'm a prisoner?_

Bad memories crowded into her mind- of iron manacles, and a smiling prince with cruelty in his eyes. Of soldiers coming for her, for her head, as she desperately struggled against her chains...

She heard running in the corridor outside. Just in case it was Southern Islanders, she raised her hands...

The door crashed open.

"Els- _paska!_ " Entering at a sprint, Janna braked hard when she saw Elsa's fingers charged with magic.

She quickly lowered them. Janna came up to the bed.

She'd changed her clothes. Or been made to change them- Gerda seemed a likely culprit. Her tattered coat was nowhere to be seen; she was dressed in a dark blue blouse and charcoal riding breeches, both of which did much to complement her lean physique. Elsa's cheeks warmed when she saw a familiar patterned scarf tied around Janna's neck. One almost suspected the scruffy Myrtlean had made an effort just for her.

Of course, at that moment she could have worn a potato sack for all Elsa cared- the second she came within arm's reach Janna found herself dragged down onto the bed, splaying half across the Queen's duvet-covered lap.

 _Clumsier than intended, but..._ Cradling a slightly startled Lady of Crows, Elsa drew a long, deep kiss from her beautiful lips. Pine needles and wildflowers filled her senses; she drank the scent in. Mouth caressed mouth, flesh brushing against plump, warm flesh, the heat itself a glorious testimony to the fact that _Janna was alive_. And if _she_ lived, they _must_ have been victorious. Her beautiful monster from the deep, dark forest. Her royal accomplice in magic. Her hero.

As they came up for air, Janna wheezed happily. "Good to see you too, miss."

That again. Elsa smiled, relieved of at least part of her worry. "What happened?" she croaked. "Did- _ahem_ \- did you save me _again_?"

She coughed, struggling to speak. Janna jumped up and went to fill a glass of water from a jug on the dressing table.

"New shirt?" Elsa asked, once her thirst was quenched.

"Yes, detective. I took a couple of wounds, nothing too serious."

"Oh... Is everyone else okay?"

Now sat on the edge of the bed, _warm_ hip pressing against Elsa's own through the lilac covers, Janna rubbed her neck thoughtfully. "I think we're still finding our balance, but things went miraculously well- except for you getting knocked in the water."

"Is that what happened?" Elsa shuddered, looking at her glass. She had... fractured memories. It was hard to know what was the true past, and what was the nightmares which had followed her into unconsciousness.

Janna put a hand to her cheek, anxiety in her dark eyes. "Are you alright? You went a bit pale for a second."

"It's nothing." Elsa waved her off. "Come _on_ , dear, how is everyone else?"

"Anna's fine." Janna smiled warmly, happy to put her mind at ease. "And the rest of the party- they pretty much missed the fight anyway. The Myrtleans killed five guardsmen, and a dock worker who carried a sword." Her expression soured as she mentioned her countrymen's actions. "I... got there as fast as I could, you know."

Elsa ran her fingers through the poor woman's black tangles, in a way she hoped was comforting. "I know. You really did it, Janna. I'm amazed at you."

Her suitor didn't seem comforted. She sat there and fidgeted with a black glove she now wore over her right hand. Elsa wondered if there had been _any_ improvement with her injury.

"How are you feeling about it all?"

" _Voi..._ " Janna closed her eyes. "I won two ships for us. Three hundred souls or thereabouts. And I only had to kill twenty-one times. Bargain." She winced. "Sodding bargain. I should be happy, how this war was always like to go. My own teeny-tiny loyalist fleet. But..."

At that, Elsa wrapped her arms around Janna and held her close, feeling Janna's choked breaths as she hovered at the edge of breaking into tears. It felt right in that moment- not a romantic embrace, but the hug of a friend and confidante. If she wasn't those things to Janna when she needed them, the kisses wouldn't mean much in the end.

 _What am I going to tell people about you?_

After a minute, Janna regained her composure. "Some dread Lord I am," she murmured, rolling her eyes. "It's just... when I fight, I never know if it feels like I'm finding myself, or losing myself. It's a whole side of me I... I don't know how to talk about it, sorry."

She shrugged, donning the mask again. "But, back to your question. The palace staff are fine, and so are the guests."

"Guests?" Elsa brightened. "So people have come to discuss the Myrtle 'situation'?" She'd been unsure leaving diplomacy in Kristoff's hands, but there had been little choice.

"Wedding guests, mainly," she replied. "Anna is tying the knot after all, and it looks like you're pretty well connected. But a few did come to talk war, and I think some others are staying on to be involved in the planning. Escaping a Myrtlean raid by the good graces of a Queen and her dragon _will_ just about shake you out of your complacency."

"Every cloud has a silver lining..." Elsa mused. "Hmm... Anyone else to mention?"

"Did I say about the reindeer?"

"What?"

. .

* * *

. .

It was odd, watching a grown man hug a reindeer. It was odder still watching the reindeer do its darnedest to hug the man back, nearly trampling on him. Kristoff picked himself up, brushed dust from his shirt, and hugged Sven again.

"Ouch," winced Anna.

"Ah, he's fine. I'm sure _you_ play rougher than that."

Janna stood with Anna in the courtyard, watching the odd display. "It's okay to cry, you know."

The red-head eyed her sharply. "Don't be weird."

"Is it hard, sharing a man's love?"

Anna shoved her, probably jokingly. "Kristoff shares me with Elsa. I share Elsa with you. Love's not a competition."

Uncharacteristically, Janna felt an overwhelming urge to hug Anna at that moment- for her warmth, for her acceptance... but mostly for her obliviousness. She probably would have, but then an excited Sven bounded up, a careless antler jabbing her hard in the ribs.

"Ow." She rubbed the bruise, and watched the reindeer and Anna fuss over each other. Kristoff lumbered over and joined them.

Odder still than the extended public display of interspecies affection, and what was baffling Janna, was the fact that Sven was wearing a crown. And an assortment of bracelets, bangles and chains, in both gold and silver. A large brown sack hung heavily from his harness, which _chinked_ as he moved his head about, enjoying the attention.

"So, the reindeer is rich."

"Um, I guess..." Anna dipped her hand into Sven's bag, and brought up a fistful of gold, silver and copper pieces. "Sven, where did you go?"

That was the moment when some horrible little sprite appeared on top of Sven, causing Janna to take a step or two back. It scurried onto the thatch of thick fur between the reindeer's antlers and began to burble dementedly.

It wasn't really words, just some strange manic chittering.

Janna turned to Anna for answers.

"What in all the hells is that?"

Anna sighed wearily, which for a moment made her look unnervingly like Elsa. It had only been an hour since they had checked on her, Janna reminded herself. It was daft to worry.

"They turned up a couple of months ago when Elsa got sick and had trouble with her powers. They get in everyone's hair but they mean no harm."

 _Oh, the 'snowgies'._ Janna remembered the story. _Great_.

"What's it saying?"

"I... don't... know..."

. .

* * *

. .

"Then it spat a gold coin into Anna's hand and ran off."

Elsa rubbed her forehead, trying to process the chaos into a semblance of order she could cope with. Why did she, of _all_ people, have a circle of family and loved ones so... _immune_ to predictability? Anna, Olaf and Sven could probably destroy a small continent between them, if simply left unattended with a step ladder and a rubber ball. And the snowgies didn't seem to obey the laws of physics at all.

"So, did you eventually find out where the treasure came from?"

Janna shrugged defeatedly. "Kristoff asked Sven, but he wouldn't say a word."

"Hilarious."

"Who said I was joki- oh!"

The bedroom door opened again-didn't anyone knock these days?- and Anna bounded in with the enthusiasm of a puppy. And the grace of one- she knocked over a table, and didn't seem to notice.

She dragged along a slim woman with shoulder-length blonde hair. It took Elsa a moment to recognise her. She quickly pulled away from Janna and sat up straight, pretending not to see the flash of hurt in her suitor's eyes as they broke contact. _Discretion, Janna. Please understand..._

"Anna! And... Rapunzel? You look different."

"A good different," Anna babbled. "She didn't mean- ooh..."

She stopped short. Rapunzel was looking _very_ intently at Janna. Janna, likewise, had sprung from her seat and was glaring back at her, limbs poised, eyes welling up with blue fire. It was a tenser family reunion than Elsa might have hoped.

"I didn't know _you_ would be here," the princess of Corona grumbled.

"Elsa has no need," Janna growled, "of a witch."

. .

* * *

. .

In real life, snowgies would be horrifying. I maintain that Janna's dislike is perfectly reasonable, although she's going to have to get used to them...

. .


	56. Chapter 56- Good to be Back

CHAPTER 56- Good to be Back

* * *

. .

"Elsa has no need," Janna growled, "of a witch."

"Janna!" Elsa exclaimed, appalled. She looked to her sister for answers. "Anna, what happened?"

Anna pointed at Janna. "Nothing. Just... I mean... she _healed_ her."

Janna's gloved hand, which yesterday hadn't been able to hold a spoon, was a tense fist. Elsa felt her mind swelling with so many competing emotions she thought her skull might burst. Relief, anger, confusion... She had to take control of the situation.

Janna tried to step forward, but realised that she couldn't. She looked at the Queen.

"Elsa, what the hell? My boots are frozen to the floor."

"What a mystery." Still weak from her slumber, she pulled back the covers, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and, with an effort, stood. She found herself swaying a little, but Anna kindly stepped up to be leaned on.

"Thanks Anna." Elsa turned to Rapunzel. "You first. I thought you lost your powers."

"We found a way to get them back. It's kind of a long story, so-"

Elsa raised her hand. "I'd love to hear it, cousin- but perhaps later."

"Anna told me about Janna, and so I thought-"

"You told her about Janna?" _Not that not that!_ Elsa turned to Anna, trying to communicate as much justified anxiety with a glance as could humanly be achieved.

The guilty look in Anna's big blue-green eyes was enough to really worry her. "Not- I just said she has powers, that she nearly got her hand bitten off... That she's a friend." Elsa hoped that was all her sister given away. She couldn't deal with being outflanked by rumour _already_.

"Nothing I didn't already know from Eugene's intelligence sources," Rapunzel interjected.

 _Intelligence sources?_

"Anyhoo," the blonde continued, "after lunch Anna fetched Janna, I fixed her hand, but she-" Rapunzel brushed away a tear. "She _kicked_ me. Really hard. And _said_ things."

Janna growled. "It was a warning kick. You're fine."

Elsa closed her eyes and counted for a few seconds. _Stay calm..._

Her heart was a steady, rapid pulse. She could feel her stomach growling.

 _Wait... after lunch?_

She opened her eyes again. "Hold on. What time is it?"

Anna looked confused. "Evening? Eight, I guess?" She pointed at the clock on the wall. "Yep, about eight."

The 'dawn' light through the window was getting darker and redder.

 _8 pm._

 _Not 8 am._

Elsa felt dizzy. "Not morning?"

"No, you slept all day. The doctor said we should let you recover."

This explained why she felt so weak, at least.

"Gerda or one of us watched you most of the time," Janna added, staring sheepishly at her frozen feet. "There's been a hell of a lot to organise without you though, with lodgings for the Myrtlemen, plans for the war meeting, the wedding tomorrow..."

 _What?_ _What?_ The dizziness increased. Elsa had to sit down. Anna helped her lower herself back onto the bed.

"Tomorrow? Wedding? Plans?" She was struggling to organise her thoughts into a coherent response; somehow the only response she could muster was a stunned string of disconnected nouns.

"Tomorrow, yeah. Twelve hours to go... yay..." Anna grimaced. "I'm not sleeping much tonight."

Elsa still didn't understand. "But if I slept the day, then it's Thursday tomorrow."

"Friday." Janna shrugged. "We seem to have lost a day somewhere. Time can get a bit loopy near the High Forest."

For pity's sake... a magical disagreement, a royal wedding in a matter of hours, and now she seemed to be missing a Wednesday. Elsa took a moment to think.

 _I have a fortnight's paperwork waiting on my desk. What's one more lost day?_

This could be managed.

Taking a deep breath, she rose to her feet again, unaided. Chaos. The world was a chaos, and that called for a Queen.

"Rapunzel, most everything for the wedding was organised before we left, but there's still _so_ much arranging. Could you do me a _huge_ favour and help?" The Coronan nodded, beaming excitedly. "Thank you _so_ much. I'll join you in Anna's room in a little while. Please find also find Gerda, and ask her to prepare some cold cuts or something, as I haven't eaten all day. Apparently."

She turned to her suitor, and gave her a stern look. "First, _Princess Janna_ and myself have matters to discuss..."

. .

* * *

. .

Once they were alone again- with the key in the lock this time- Elsa concisely explained her cousin's history.

"Sodding hell..."

"Eighteen _years_ , Janna."

"Shit, I had no idea." Janna ran her hands through her hair.

"At the _hands_ of a witch! This, my dear-" Elsa jabbed a finger between Janna's collarbones- " _This_ is why you don't jump to conclusions about people. We of all- my cousin is such a sweet person! What on earth were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry _kultani_..." she only seemed to be getting more upset. "But that kind of magic, that... spellsinging... the witches who use it. There's a complicated history to it all. Crow Lord history."

"Is that why you're so angry?"

"She doesn't know what she's doing with that power! What she's done. What-" Janna broke off, choked with emotion.

Elsa sighed. "Neither of _us_ know what we're doing the whole time. What do you mean, 'what she's done?' We're all trying to do our best for each other, Janna, what else can we do?"

Janna seemed to be argued out. Thawing her boots, Elsa drew the quietly smouldering princess down to sit on the bed beside her. She was cradling the healed hand, still gloved.

"I don't get it, Janna," she sighed. "You normally have so much control."

If that hand was fixed, she couldn't see what the glove was _for_. But when she tried to take hold of the hand to remove it, her suitor jerked it back reflexively.

"What is it?" Elsa asked, really quite worried. "Does it hurt?"

Janna's face betrayed pain, but she shook her head. "Nothing like that," she muttered, bitterly.

"Then what?"

The Myrtlean held up her gloved fingers and slowly flexed them, her expression distant and sad. "I should be grateful. I know I'm an absolute prick. But... she doesn't get what she _does_. Spellsongs shouldn't even work on me, but the one she was taught just unlocks something much bigger. I could feel what she did. In my blood."

Then Janna tugged the glove off with her fingers, revealing what seemed to be a smooth and uninjured hand. Tentatively, hesitantly, she placed the hand in Elsa's, in her lap. "Do you see?"

Janna's hand looked flawless, but something didn't fit right. It took a moment for Elsa to see it, but when she did she couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes, _because the marks were gone_. The marks that the hind woman had carved into Janna's skin, the scars she had run her fingers along, one by one...

She could feel Janna trembling- or maybe that was her. "Do you _see_ , Elsa? Rapunzel doesn't just 'heal'. She manipulates _time_. And... and..."

Elsa shushed her gently. Lifting the smooth hand to her lips, she planted a soft, tender kiss on each knuckle. Once again, she let her fingers slowly trace the outlines of where the scars had been, as she felt the tension in Janna's body gradually subside.

Looking into Janna's eyes, misted with tears, Elsa smiled reassuringly. "It _happened_ ," she stated, in a tone that invited no argument.

Janna smiled back. " _Naida minulle kultaseni..._ "

"Sorry?"

"Oh... nothing, _kultani_."

Janna had protected her, and bled for her. They had... Elsa had spent the night in her arms, and felt warmer and more secure than she had ever imagined possible.

It had _happened_ , with or without the scars. That couldn't be taken away from them.

Now to make sure a certain _other_ princess hadn't set her dress on fire... There was seating to check. Flowers, tables, royal protocols... so much to check, so much to _organise_ in just a few hours, if Anna was to get some sleep before the big day.

Everything seemed to fall apart without a Queen to keep an eye on matters.

Still, it _was_ good to be needed.

 _Yes._

Elsa smiled to herself. It was good to be back.

. .

* * *

. .

 **AN:** Happy Pride! Here's a little trans cultural history, in keeping with the spirit of the season.

. .

 _…I was shocked at the sight. "Oh Leaena," they said, "have you ever seen such a handsome young man before?"_

 _"But Megilla," I replied, "I see no young man here..."_

 _"Don't feminise me!" they said. "For my name is Megillus, and I have long been married to Demonassa here- she is my wife."_

 _I laughed, Clonarium, and said "So, 'Megillus', you have been a man all along unbeknown to us- like when Achilles hid among the maidens. And you have what a man has, and can do to Demonassa as men do?"_

 _"That thing, Leaena, I do not have. But I have no need of it. I have my own way, which is much pleasanter- as you'll see."_

 _"Are you not then a hermaphrodite?" I asked. "Equipped in both ways, as many are said to be?" For, Clonarium, I still didn't know the score._

 _"No," Megillus replied. "I am all man."_

 _Then I said, "I've heard Ismenodora, the Boeotian flautist, telling stories from her homeland, how someone in Thebes went from being a woman to being a man, some great prophet- Tiresias, I think their name was. Something like that didn't happen to you, did it?"_

 _"No, Leaena," they said. "I was born the same as the rest of you, but I have the mind, the feelings, and all else of a man."_

 _"And are feelings enough, as far as you're concerned?"_

 _"Give me a try", said Megillus, "if you aren't convinced, and you will soon know that I am in no way deficient as a man. For I have something in place of what men have._

 _Try me- you'll see..."_

LUCIAN, _Dialogues of Courtesans,_ 2nd Century AD

. .


	57. Chapter 57- Stag Night, Part 1

CHAPTER 57- Stag Night, Part 1

* * *

. .

"The captains you sent South are dead," the witch stated drily, as if he wasn't much moved.

Sulo froze, his bald scalp prickling with sudden dread. "The ships we sent to aid the Southern Isles princes against Arendelle? Is this what you sent word about?" In the morning word had come from the sage that Kaarlo should go to him immediately; the tone had prickled Kaarlo's fragile sense of importance, no doubt, and once again Sulo had been sent along instead.

A less cautious chamberlain might have pointed out that, even aside from war preparations, he was actually much _busier_ than the Lord Protector, who since the disappearance of the young king from 'protective custody', and the personal embarrassment surrounding it, had spent far too much time brooding like a bear with a hangover. He was a commander at heart, Sulo reminded himself. He would be better once the war had begun in earnest.

He did not get an immediate answer. Shirtless, the witch leaned back in his chair, long plaited hair settling on the floor, languidly arching his back as he stretched out his bony arms- with audible pops from the joints- and causing each rib on his gaunt chest to spring into clear relief.

"How did you know?" Sulo asked before he could help himself. Their crow messengers were not working, rendering communicating with the front challenging, to say the least.

At that the man chuckled, as if he'd been waiting for that question.

"The knowledge came to me last night, as I slept. Here..." With a fluid motion of his arm, he snatched a scroll of tan parchment from his table and tossed it to Sulo. Unrolled, it revealed an image which seemed to have been burned into the fibre.

At first the page looked like so many whorls and twists, but as Sulo stared at it, mesmerised, patterns and figures began to emerge. He saw water- waves- an ocean? He saw a city by the sea. He saw ships. And two great, winged beasts...

"Many things, chamberlain," the witch began, using Sulo's actual title for once, "have been forgotten about dreams. Dreams-" he sprang from his chair and stood bolt upright, his pale knotted rope of a ponytail whipping about- "Dreams can inspire whole generations, enslave whole cultures. There are dreams that can make a person remember what they had long forgotten- or forget their own life. There are dreams that feed on memory, on joy, on fear. There are dreams that will even eat you whole- oh yes- and in the morning they'll find nothing but an empty pallet and a drop of blood on the pillow where your last tear fell. But dreams of truth... when one comes, I do not mistake it."

His eyes were filled with bright intensity. "I sang the dream into that parchment you now grasp."

Sulo knew he should be scoffing, but he found himself... _fascinated_... In the branded image he held, the first of the winged beasts- a thing of black feathers- scooped up two ships from the water and carried them off with it. The swirling, spiralling image seemed to trick the eye, appearing fluid, as if always imperceptibly in motion- yet when he looked hard at it there were only scorch lines on seal-hide, still as the grave. "You make them sound almost alive."

The witch tutted. "Are they not? My Martella, how far you have fallen. Myrtle is a crude and bristling thing..."

"What is this?" Sulo asked, transfixed by the second beast. "It looks like... a dragon? What does this represent?" At the centre of the image, rampant over the waves, a winged lizard of crystal or diamonds clove a ship in two.

That drew a grim smile from the strange figure by the table. "Fear the mother of such children. Something... something from long ago, that should have stayed gone. Your 'Snow Queen' survived the mountains."

Something twisted in Sulo's stomach, but he retained his composure. "That will not please the Lord Protector. Are you confident in our contingency plan?"

"Quite..." The white haired man looked Sulo over, assessing him with a seasoned look which made him wonder, not for the first time, if he was not in fact much older than he appeared. "Provided the hand that carries the blade can find its mark. You know, chamberlain, I respect your control. I suspect that you will be very useful in the months to come..."

Still staring into the images on the scroll, Sulo nodded, dreamily.

. .

* * *

. .

"I didn't get there until after- ow! Easy there, Rapunzel..." Anna tugged at the bodice of her wedding dress, trying to restore some blood flow.

"Oops- sorry! Think I pulled a little hard there," Rapunzel grinned apologetically. Lucky for her, she had one of those faces it was impossible to stay mad at.

"You know," the Corona princess continued, "I think the waist could probably come in another inch. Did you lose weight since the fitting? Well, _I_ was stuck in the castle when they barricaded the gates."

Anna looked herself over in the mirror, half-dressed in half a dress. "I don't look any different. But everything's squeezing round my shoulders and thighs. Maybe all the riding and sword-fighting? So who _did_ see the battle?"

Rapunzel hummed, considering. "Some townsfolk saw it through their shutters, and the Myrtlemen who joined us because of Janna have been telling tales all over town. Eugene lets me know whatever he hears."

"Eugene hears quite a _lot_ , I'm told..." grumbled Anna, remembering what Kristoff had told her about the _kind-of_ reformed Flynn Rider and his way with people.

Elsa stumbled back into the room at that point, looking tired. "Well, all the table places finally check out. The last thing we need is the Prince of _Day Isle_ sitting next to the _Night Isle_ party, after what happened at the Duke of Kernev's birthday party..."

Anna shuffled over to her sister, basically dragging Rapunzel behind her as she still had a firm grip on the dress fastenings. "Aww... you've done so much already, Elsa, but you need to take it easy. Have some more of that food the kitchen laid on for us- you have a day's eating to catch up on."

"We've totally got it under control for now," agreed Rapunzel from under Anna's armpit. Elsa hesitantly sat down by the heaving buffet table that Gerda's ladies had lovingly but overenthusiastically prepared- enough for three fairly slight young women to live on for a month, never mind an evening- and daintily gathered some morsels onto a plate to fold into a lefse.

Food... Sweet, sweet food... Right now she was saving herself for the reception, but Anna had been yearning for chocolate the whole journey long. _That missing inch on my waist is gonna to be back with interest pretty soon. I sure hope Kristoff doesn't mind..._

. .

* * *

. .

 _Crow Queen, Snow Queen, sitting in a tree. F-U-C-"_

 _Edvin slapped Odd hard against the back of the head. He stopped, spluttering. Beer dribbled out of his nose._

 _Damn right, Janna thought. I'm a Princess, not a Queen._

 _She had to get out of this tavern. Maybe some fresh air..._

* * *

Janna sat at the edge of the docks, legs dangling over, and looked down at the waters of the fjord, where the waves rippled like grass under the dim, grey sky. Apricot settled beside her; she scratched the old bird's head.

 _Didn't even make sense. A tree is the worst possible spot..._

She had made her excuses and left the sisters with their cousin. Weddings were a family time. Besides, things with Rapunzel felt awkward, even after her deeply galling apology at Elsa's insistence. Or maybe because of it. Then she had tracked down the Myrtlemen in a dockside tavern, but...

Maybe it was that everyone's eyes had been on her. Celebrity was new and uncomfortable. She'd caught up with Edvin, Roar and Odd, won enough at cards to buy a round, described in grisly detail what she'd do if they spread rumours about Elsa, and then found herself making excuses to leave yet again.

"Where do I belong, now?" she mused aloud.

Apricot tilted her head curiously. _Will Winter make you a place?_

That might have been literal- the small island Elsa had formed after her crash landing still sat close to the mouth of the fjord. A large flag flapped helpfully atop it, placed there to prevent any ships accidentally running aground. Hopefully someone would remind her to melt it come morning.

Elsa... Janna wished she knew what to believe, or even hope. _It happened_ , she had said, and kissed and caressed the doubt away. Yet... She thought of all Elsa's plans, those she had told her about- how she would make her people healthier, happier, literate...

 _She'd be mad to risk all that for me. Wouldn't she?_

But would she?

Then an unexpected sound shook Janna out of her funk- a gasp, somewhere down below her... coming from the water?

Standing up, she ran along the edge of the quay, and collapsed laughing when she saw the source of the noise.

Someone- or maybe several people- had tied some blocks of ice together into a wobbly and very uncomfortable-looking raft, which was drifting along a few dozen feet from the docks. Crouched uneasily upon this small iceberg was a shivering blond man who seemed to have lost all his clothes. The only thing preserving his modesty was a large lute which he was carefully trying to hold up, while _also_ endeavouring not to slip and fall into the water.

"Kristoff!" Janna cried across the water. "What are you _doing_ to that instrument?"

The sudden shout was enough to startle the young Sami into losing his balance...

* * *

Bobbing on the surface of the fjord, Kristoff blew salt water out of his nose with a messy gurgle. He looked up at the Princess of Myrtle with a marvellous mixture of rage, shock and incredulity.

"How did you do that?" he spluttered, teeth chattering with the relative chill the Northern seas kept even in summer. Standing on the ice raft, Janna held a dry lute up by its neck, trying not to start laughing again.

" _Ándagassii_ , future Mister Anna, I thought you'd want someone to save this."

Kristoff growled. "Thanks... but if you're so fast couldn't you have caught _me_ , too?"

She rolled her eyes as if he were being ridiculous. "You're two hundred pounds and the raft was tipping. It's physics. Besides, you looked like you needed sobering up."

" _Mana fal helvehii!_ "

Janna tutted, sure her face would be aching from grinning so hard if her powers didn't proof her against cramp. " _Language_ , Kristoff... this is Arendelle, where swearing is a strange and near-sodding-unfathomable notion. Besides, the devil wouldn't know what to do with me."

The iceman stared up at her through damp blond locks. " _Don it hála sámegiela?_ "

" _De, mon boađán Myrtilas._ And sink me, there's probably languages I don't know I know. Now, I've been assuming this bollock-nakedness is all part of your traditional stag debauchery?"

Morosely treading water, Kristoff grunted in the affirmative. "The ice harvesters took me out for drinks, and then... okay, I'm a bit blurry after the third round."

Janna looked at the instrument in her hand, wrinkling her nose. "So they're having some fun at the boss' expense? _Voi,_ what a laugh... This is a nice instrument. I'd be tempted to play a tune or two, only it's been rubbing against your carp all evening."

"There was no rubbing!" Still treading water, Kristoff sighed, looking somehow even more bedraggled by doing so. "Look, if you're hanging around, could you at least help me find my clothes?"

. .

* * *

. .

"I'm sorry I've been so busy, Anna," Elsa sighed, after coming back from yet another last-minute emergency triple-check. "I'd like to have just spent this evening relaxing and enjoying some time together before the big day, but it didn't work out like that."

Typical of her to fret over things Anna _really_ didn't mind. It had actually been nice catching up with Rapunzel, and hearing about _her_ experiences as a newly-wed. "Wasn't spending some time together the idea of the Myrtle trip?" she remarked, holding her hair up so Rapunzel could undo her necklace. Elsa nodded grimly.

"Hey," Rapunzel said, looking to be helpful, "I suppose you must have had lots of time to talk on the trail, right?"

"Right!" Anna laughed. "I guess we did spend a lot of time together."

Elsa pondered. "Well... I remember the riding, and joking about with Jani- then Janna."

"Then Jani again, then Janna again..."

Elsa giggled. "I know- and it helped to talk to you about..." She stumbled over her words for a second, eyes on Rapunzel. "About all my worries."

"Sisters take _so_ much looking after," Anna declared, smiling as she rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Oh, and the adventures, Elsa! Like that cave full of killer worms, and Jani saved you from having your head eaten off!"

Rapunzel stood up, finished for now. "Princess Janna saved you twice?"

Elsa fidgeted with the heavy plait draped over her shoulder. _The subject must be making her antsy._ "Actually, it's more than- hold on, sorry, which two times do you mean?"

Her cousin giggled. "I mean _yesterday_ , when you fell out of the sky, and she ran across the waves like a ghost to rescue you?"

"She did what?" The Queen's eyes widened.

Rapunzel hesitated. "That's, um, that's just what I heard. Everyone's talking about it." Elsa's cheeks had flushed pinker than usual.

"Huh... oh, I _see_..." The Corona princess looked at Elsa with a strangely self-satisfied expression. "I suppose it's not _so_ surprising she should have looked out for you before..."

"Well..."

"I mean, there was all that cave-man over-protectiveness when we dropped in to see you..."

Elsa grew redder. "I'm not sure I know what you mean..."

"And I like to think I have a gift for reading people," Rapunzel smirked. "I should have known I was... intruding?"

 _Oh gosh_ , Anna thought, catching on. _Still, it's probably better this way._

"No, you weren't- um, but, I mean that..." Elsa stammered.

"That's a 'yes', then," Rapunzel laughed, with that carefree laugh she had that seemed endlessly reassuring, joyful and free, without any trace of spite.

"So, you're dating Janna Marttila, huh?" The princess winked.

 _Oh, boy._

Elsa looked like she was about to keel over.

. .

* * *

. .

So, this is really how I'm spending my evening, Janna thought, as the large reindeer kicked her off again and veered away down a side street. She wasn't sure if Sven was in on the joke or just being Sven, but the long johns flapping from his harness were part one of the Kristoff Bjorgman naked-no-more puzzle. At least she was seeing more of the city, albeit sideways as she bounced off the cobbles.

Brushing herself off with a growl, she leant against the wall of a town-house and took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down, as she considered. This wasn't working. Reindeer were very wriggly creatures, and while she could keep up with Sven at a sprint, getting a secure grip without hurting him was another matter. An Ulda could have tamed him with a gesture, of course, but her freaky crow lord version of that power pretty much worked in reverse. Mind un-control. She could wild the tame. Funny to use on dog walkers, but useless right now.

Time for a change of tactic...

* * *

Sven padded down the alley, keeping an ear cocked for the rascally woman who wanted to grab Kristoff's leg things. There was a man sleeping against the wall who smelt of malt and rotten apples. When Kristoff smelt like that he needed a lot of nudging before he woke up and normally yelled instead of giving Sven carrots, so he left him be.

 _Carrots?_

Hold on... Sven sniffed the air. Feeling the direction of the breeze on his fur, he swerved around to see that woman again. He backed away slowly, ready to run again, but...

But...

She. Was. Holding. A. Whole. Bunch. Of. Carrots.

They smelt sweet and crunchy and delicious. She shook them teasingly. The woman herself smelt mostly like hide and pine needles.

"The castle kitchen don't lock their supply entrance. I'll warn Elsa in the morning." She smiled brightly, but with slightly too much tooth for Sven's liking.

The carrots were filling his whole universe. They looked so fresh, so crisp, leaves still green and rustling as the black-haired temptress waved them a few feet from his nose. His stomach groaned.

"Trade?"

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes** : TBC...


	58. Chapter 58- Stag Night, Part 2

CHAPTER 58- Stag Night, Part 2

* * *

. .

Deciding once and for all to do something about the noise, Bishop Halsing swung his legs over the side of the bed and straightened himself with an irritated grunt. He needed to be rested and refreshed come morning- he had a rather important wedding to officiate. But an odd, dull clanging was coming from the bell tower.

Lighting the candle in his little lamp, and poking his thin white feet into a pair of comfortable slippers, he pattered out of his bedchamber and half-searched, half-felt for the door.

The chapel was part of the castle grounds, as were his modest quarters; since his bedroom window was directly opposite the belfry any sound the bells made, in high wind for instance, was very noticeable.

The bells would need to be rung several times over the course of the morning's nuptials. Any damage to them would be... a pity. Princess Anna had rather earned her special day, and he dreaded disappointing her.

Crossing the chapel garden hurriedly, conscious of the coolness of the breeze on this overcast night through his thin gown, he unlocked the chapel and slipped inside. Moving briskly past rows of shadowy, expectant pews, he entered the back rooms and, gathering himself, began the arduous journey up the winding staircase to the tower. The clanking was getting louder and more pronounced- or perhaps that was his imagination.

It was some minutes later that Bishop Halsing arrived, breathless and a little weak, at the door to the bell room, several storeys up. Unlocking it, he stepped in, and nearly had a heart attack.

Even in the dull light he could see that the noise from the bell was due to a large pair of boots which had been tied to it.

Untying the boots, while hanging from the support beam by a leg, was a figure he did not expect. A dark haired-young man swore in a familiar accent and dropped, catlike, to the boards, an even more familiar coat spreading around him. Halsing felt his heart in his throat.

 _Ukko?_

"Hello Erik. You look like you've seen a ghost."

And he realised, with a sinking feeling that could have been relief _or_ disappointment, that the intruder was actually a short-haired woman. She rose, snickering, and a more careful glance at her physique confirmed it. But the _coat_...

Halsing forced himself to expel the breath he had apparently been holding. The intruder held up the pair of boots she had freed from the bell.

"Just fetching these. Ain't mine." She _was_ assuredly from Myrtle which was surprising in its- _Oh, of_ _course_...

Embarrassed at his slowness of wit, he was about to greet Princess Janna properly when she... jumped out of the window...

. .

* * *

. .

"Why would it bother me?" Rapunzel's nose wrinkled up when she was confused, a lot like Anna's.

 _Why?_

 _Seriously?_

Elsa looked from her sister to her cousin, as the absurdity of trying to explain traditional values to a woman who had grown up in a tower with a witch, believing that outsiders had razor teeth, slowly dawned on her.

 _If you think about it, we're lucky she can even use a privy properly...Still, it must be wonderful to have so little... princess baggage._

"Never mind. But, just please don't tell anyone else?" Panic throbbed softly in her bones, and she found herself urgently missing Janna. For a supportive arm, or a well-worded threat...

"But you're such a cute couple!"

 _That's not the point, that's not... wait, what?_

"You totally are..." Anna agreed. She seemed to be enjoying this, which was very unhelpful.

"Look." Elsa rubbed her forehead, wondering how late it was and how she was _so_ tired after sleeping for twenty-four of the past thirty-six hours. "We _aren't ready_ for people to know. And if we were, we certainly wouldn't want them to find out during _Anna's_ big day. So, can I count on you not to tell another soul?"

"Of course, cousin." Rapunzel's eyes shone with the honest sincerity of someone who was, without a shadow of a doubt, going to spill everything to Eugene the moment she saw him.

 _Wonderful. Just wonderful._

. .

* * *

. .

As the crowd behind the tavern bayed and cheered, Olaf looked up from the finger race to watch a pair of trousers striding past, without a man to wear them.

Most people were cheering Mortimer, the biggest finger. But Iggle and Piggle were light and nimble, and the race was too close to call as the three inched their way north.

A figure in a black coat ran into view and tacked the trousers, sending a dozen snowgies spilling out in all directions. They pattered up to Olaf and started to complain, loudly.

The snowman scratched under his cap. "Slow down, Ville, Slush, Frosty, Flake... Hey!" He wagged a twiggy finger. "One at a time. I'm trying to run a race here."

Janna shook the last of the snow babies free and slung the empty breeches over her shoulder with a huff. Seeing Olaf, she wandered up, looking curious. The complaining snowgies scattered.

"What in the name of Sea-crow's almighty wooden bollocks are you doing, Olaf?"

 _Ah, another sports fan._ Olaf tapped his stick against the race line. "I'm overseeing the race. I drew up the track, and everyone started cheering as the fingers wriggle along."

Janna pointed to Mortimer. "They're disembodied bloody fingers, Olaf. Where did you get them? How are they moving?"

Olaf sighed. "I'm sorry, I should have explained. I found these little guys after the battle where your hand got hurt."

"The _draug_ battle?"

"Uh-huh."

Janna blue-black eyes narrowed. "You found the disembodied fingers of undead ice ogres. And _kept_ them."

Olaf sensed hostility all of a sudden. "No one seemed to be _using_ them. And I noticed how, wherever you put them down, they always start crawling north. So I thought, why not see who's fastest?"

"Riiiight..."

"Yeah." Olaf smiled. "And then these people came out of the tavern and started watching as they race. And then more and more came, and started cheering their favourites... it really makes them happy! Some are even handing money to each other when a finger wins."

He pointed to some Myrtlemen in dark coats cheering and waving coins in the air. "And there are even some of _your_ people joining in the fun! See how the simple pastime of finger racing brings everyone together?"

Mortimer passed the finish line, his grey knuckles pulsing with determination. The crowd went wild. Janna looked around at the rejoicing sports lovers and groaned. "Okay, okay. I guess if anything will unite peoples it's got to be illicit gambling. But- just show Elsa those fingers some time- make sure they're safe."

She swiped Olaf's hat from his head, the one the ice men had handed him. "Oh, but I'll need this. Vital mission for the bridegroom."

. .

* * *

. .

"Do you mind, not...?"

Janna sighed, and turned around to let Kristoff climb up out of the water and pull his long johns on.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, Kristoff."

She turned back to see the ice master donning his shirt. He looked quizzical.

"I thought you didn't, you know..."

Janna snorted. "Do you know how drunk people get in Myrtle? I've seen more men with red cheeks and their carps dangling out than I'd like to remember. Sadly I remember almost everything. And that's apart from the times I've walked in on my brother when... you know..."

"I didn't need to know that," Kristoff mumbled while fiddling with his buttons. "Hold it, hold it."

"What?"

"These aren't mine." Kristoff held the trousers up to himself and pulled at the waistband, showing that they were quite a few inches too loose around the belly.

"Ah, shit."

"Where did you even _get_ them?"

She felt like hitting something, and not for the first time that evening. "I saw some of those little... _demons_ running off with them and assumed they were part of the prank. I was a bit distracted- I had to get your hat back from Olaf, who was running a gambling ring, and _that_ was after I haunted my old man's ex-boyfriend... _kyrpä!_ "

Groaning, Janna sat down at the water's edge and pulled one of her own boots off. "It's been a long sodding night, you know?" The moon had come out; she wriggled her toes in the silver light.

Kristoff sat down next to her, carefully. "I didn't mean- Look, thanks for your help. They'll stay up if I hold them. Did you just say _gambling ring_?"

"Aye."

"Would I... I mean, is it more..." Kristoff frowned. "No, actually let's make that another thing we agree never to talk about. At least I can get back to the castle now, without being an embarrassment."

Janna shrugged. "Count yourself lucky. I'm a bloody embarrassment whatever I'm wearing."

Her parents' words, her mouth. Weird. Somehow her frustration had drawn them to the tip of her tongue.

Kristoff shook his head. "Oh, I get it. I guess that's why you're sulking about by the docks instead of, you know, spending time with Elsa."

Janna looked up at the castle walls, over in the distance. Hundreds of miles travelled, her true nature revealed to the world, and she was still running away from castles like she had all her life.

"Weddings are a family thing. I didn't want to get in the way."

Kristoff gave her a look of pained amusement. "Like _either_ of them would have turned down the help. Elsa will have been checking _every, little, thing_. Like it isn't already fine! There are servants who are already on top of everything. It's just how she is."

"Look..." His expression turned more serious. "After all they've been through, their family is close. But it's not exclusive- they invite people in. Look at me. Look at Gerda. Look at _you_."

Janna felt herself blushing at what was implied, which was not good for her image.

She wondered if she'd be closer to her brother after all this was over. Once he was out of Kaarlo's grasp, once they had their home back. Jalo wasn't a bad lad, just bloody annoying. And now he was the rightful king she wasn't allowed to kick him any more.

She looked along the dockside where they sat. They were only twenty feet from where they'd carried Elsa to shore the night before, trembling with worry which she struggled to hide from her new Myrtlemen, desperate to see her _kultani_ open her eyes, say something. But then they had passed the bodies. The captains, the mates, the men she'd cut down, stiff corpses all pale and grotesquely lolling against each other.

She'd looked down at the face of the unconscious woman in her arms, damp strands of blonde clinging to a deathly pale brow, and for a moment honestly prayed that she wouldn't wake up _just_ yet. Not to see that. And then she'd seen that the blood on her coat had rubbed off against the crystals of Elsa's clothing, staining the clean blue-white with red...

"Do you really think _I'm_ what Elsa needs right now?" As she said the words, she realised that she was asking about more than just that night.

Kristoff thought for a bit, scratching at his five o'clock shadow. "You're asking _me_?"

 _Of course I'd rather bloody not_ , she thought, _but who are my options?_ She nodded.

"That's a new one." The ice man looked at her. " _I_ think Elsa spent years listening to what _other_ people told her would be best for her, and it all went to hell and then some. So at this point,-" he shrugged- "Why not let _her_ figure it out? This isn't Myrtle. This is Arendelle. Who knows it better, you or her?"

"Fair point." Janna wriggled her foot back into her boot. " _Voi_... Maybe it's being down here. I've not been so far from home since-" she gestured towards her eyes- " _this_ started. I feel so disconnected from everything."

"Lost?"

"Aye..." She ran a hand through her hair. "At home I was royalty- which I never really appreciated. On the road with those two, I was useful as hell, keeping people alive. Now? Now I'm just some orphan stray they've nicely taken in."

Kristoff turned to Janna and held out his calloused hand. "Welcome to the club."

Janna couldn't help but laugh as she shook hands with the scruffy Sami. "Oh, these Arendelle girls. Can't resist a bit of rough."

He rolled his eyes. "You _still_ grew up in a castle."

"It was an ancient fortress raised by witches for a barbarian tyrant. Not all this coloured glass and decent furniture."

"Your hand is soft as a baby's, Princess."

Janna pretended to pout. "I'm twenty-one, a _woman,_ with rapid healing and... okay. Fine. You're rougher. Now let's get you home."

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:** This fic has been going for TWO YEARS. Happy birthday, Janna. Wow. I really need to write faster. The conclusion of this rather long night is drafted and coming soon.


	59. Chapter 59- Stag Night with a Vengeance

CHAPTER 59- Stag Night with a Vengeance

* * *

. .

Back in her nightgown, Anna left Rapunzel with the dress and pulled open her door to find out what all the noise was.

 _Ooh... uh-oh._ Her toothbrush dropped from her mouth.

In the middle of the corridor was a barred cage, like a big cube, made of ice. In it was a small and very angry bear, who was moving along by tipping the cage onto its side, then its roof, then its side again, like a very slow hamster wheel, and howling all the way. He was followed by a very worn-looking Elsa, who had a shattered wall painting gathered up under one arm. Seeing Anna, he yipped joyfully, and started to rock the cage in her direction, only he slipped and landed on his little furry butt.

"I left him with the servants, it was only for a few... I mean..." Her sister's expression told her that excuses weren't a good idea.

"They're not zookeepers, Anna. We have guests. Royal guests, and the things he managed to- Oh, you don't want to know..."

Anna went over to the cage and knelt. The baby bear pined and pawed at the bars.

"This isn't going to work, is it?" she asked, feeling herself welling up.

Elsa looked down at her little captive sadly. "I don't think it can. I'm sorry, Anna. We could build an enclosure, but..."

The cub butted his head against the side of his cage, as if he could hope to break Elsa's magical ice _that_ way. Huge black eyes gazed up at Anna imploringly. _Add ten years and five hundred pounds or so..._ Anna got the picture.

She knew her sister was on the money as ever, but...

Anna brushed away a tear. "I want to do right by him, Elsa. He's an orphan now."

Her sister squeezed her shoulder. "I know you do. You have such a big heart, but... we'll think of something. A place where he'll be safe, I promise we will."

Elsa paused. "Just... not a place with carpets. Trust me on that."

. .

* * *

. .

The old quartermaster, shrivelled and thin-haired, swayed atop the table. All around him, the tavern was filled with Myrtle folk- young and old, but all younger than him, the eldest by far of the raiders who had come to Arendelle. He had finished one tale, and had more to come, but first he emptied his tankard down his throat, quickly and messily, like a horse gulping water.

"Ye be forgetting..." he spluttered, his voice rasping in spite of the wetness in his throat. "Aye, ye forget. We were not Myrtle, then.

Not in truth. Aforetimes the Tyrants ruled, with their rotten kin, and behind 'em their witches. As serfs and thralls we scratched at the rocky ground. We sweated, and we bled. In mines and pits, in brothels and kitchens, in chains and in fear. More miserable even than the peasants of the rotten old Empire in the South, for they had bread enough at least."

A helpful comrade handed him a fresh mug of ale, and he took a slurp. "We had no hope of freedom. No fire in the belly. Even a thought of rising up was death, if a witch should be hearing. Them old spell singers of the North, whose word-" his stiffened hand hacked at his own larynx- "could cut a throat. Or boil the marrow in your bones.

But then..." The Myrtlemen listened, rapt, as the ancient pirate related the ancient tale, though not a man present had not heard it before.

"But then _he_ came."

"At first no one paid it mind, when the rumours spread. Revolt. A foundling raised by hunters. A man who commanded the gallows birds. 'Great', each man said, 'another witch', and went back to his slavery. Master was master, as the sun rose and set. We had forgotten freedom, put chains and manacles on our own hearts. But Niklas never had. And his fire, it spread.

He passed first through the coke pits, then the iron mines, cutting through traps of steel and magic alike as if they were nothing.

The colliers watched as he broke their witch overseer with his bare hands. Each knelt, helpless. And to each he stretched out a naked hand, and at his touch, they felt his fire. At his touch, they were free."

The word 'free' aroused scattered drunken applause; the old quartermaster took a moment to wet his throat again.

" _Free_ , men of Myrtle. _Free_ as wind and wolves. The power of the witches died. The chains within us broken."

"We are the free. We are the wild men. The men of Myrtle!"

He raised his tankard aloft."The black and blue!"

"The black and blue!" his audience bellowed in reply.

"And we crushed the filthy Tyrant!"

"We destroy!"

"And then we took to the waves!"

Tankards were raised."Death undying!"

"And tore the festering, slaving Empire into a hundred pieces!"

Fists hammered on tables. "We destroy!"

"And we put the witches on _spits_!" Spittle flecked his beard.

" _We destroy! We destroy! We destroy!_ "

The refrain, repeated over and over, filled the air of the tavern, while the non-Myrtlean patrons backed away into corners, watching the display nervously.

Except one patron, himself a foreigner, who noted the scene over the froth of his ale mug with professional calm.

"This is worth keeping an eye on," Eugene said to himself.

"They really have it in for witches who sing."

. .

* * *

. .

 _Finally back at the castle. Now what should I-_

"Janna!"

Hearing Elsa's voice unexpectedly made her start. The Queen rushed up, looking out of sorts.

"You weren't in your room. I've been looking all over."

Janna held up her hands. "Just getting the groom safely to his chamber. Aww, you worried."

" _I always worry_." Elsa's sky-blue eyes narrowed. "You went to a stag party, then? Have _fun_?" Her disapproving tone managed to imply the phrase _while I was hard at work_ without a syllable having to pass her perfect lips.

Janna held a hand to her own chest, face a picture of innocence- at least she hoped it was. " _Me?_ Alas, no. I just dealt with the grisly aftermath."

"Oh." The Queen blinked.

"You're welcome."

Elsa hesitated. "Do I want to know the details?"

"It involves gratuitous male nudity."

"That's a confirmed 'no', then." Elsa turned away, her plait swishing back from her shoulder; bustling off down the corridor she gestured impatiently for Janna to follow. There were definitely less inviting sights in the world than her graceful 'suitor' urging her to her chambers, so she followed eagerly.

"Oh, you might want to tell the servants to arrange a bath for Kristoff first thing in the morning. He ended up in the fjord."

Elsa snorted. "He already has one scheduled. But thanks for the heads up."

When they reached the modest room Janna had been assigned by Gerda and Kai, the Queen turned back to face her.

"I can get you better chambers than this. The castle is full up at the moment, but they just vacated the guest room directly below me. It has a balcony."

"You don't have to-"

Elsa silenced her with a kiss, resting gently on her lips for a couple of warm heartbeats. She smiled as she pulled away.

"I _want_ to."

Then she turned the door handle and slipped into Janna's room ahead of her.

"But first, I have some things to show you."

 _This can't be what it sounds like_. Janna hurried in behind her girlfriend, closing the door behind them and feeling her fingers tremble against the wooden frame. _I mean, it really can't be what it sounds like_.

The bedside lamp had recently been relit. Elsa stepped over to her bed and held up a bodice embroidered in dark colours. Janna's keen night vision picked out several other items of clothing, which some helpful soul had laid out on the duvet for her inspection.

 _No, it... actually isn't what it sounded like._

Elsa perhaps read some disappointment in her face, and put the bodice back down. "There are a few things for you to look at- I'm not sure what will fit, or what you'll like. But there's no time to take you to a dressmaker before tomorrow, obviously. I had the royal wardrobe rustle up a few things in roughly the right size..."

Tired and a little dazed, Janna sat down on the bed and ran her hand across the fabric of a skirt, feeling silk's clingy softness. "Tomorrow?"

Elsa leant over her and planted a second kiss against her hairline. "I saved a place for one of your family at the wedding- although I expected your brother to be sent, or more likely a raven and his apologies. It's last minute, and it's not at the front, but you would be so, _so_ welcome, Janna."

Then at once Janna was on her feet and wrapping Elsa in a hug so tight that the Queen gasped, and she had to soften the embrace to let her suitor breathe. She thanked her, with a kiss beside the ear, then another against the cheekbone, and then, after hovering over her mouth long enough to see assent in Elsa's eyes, she brought their lips together. Elsa was still nervous about receiving kisses, rather than initiating them, but she seemed to be getting used to it, as, while Janna could feel the sharp tingle of the Queen's ice dress against her breasts through the thin cloth of her blouse, the fingers wandering across her back remained pleasantly warm.

Elsa gently pulled away. "I'm- ooh- I'm glad you're excited, my sweet. But just please remember that this is a really big event. More royalty have come for the war council, and I've given invitations to as many as I can. So try to... how can I put this?"

Janna bristled slightly. "I'm a princess of the blood. I can probably avoid belching the national anthem."

"Of course, I shouldn't, I know I shouldn't..." Elsa sighed. "After all this organising..."

"Got it. Still in bossy mode."

Elsa looked at her sharply as she moved to leave.

" **Is that a problem?** "

 _Voi_ , that voice... "No, Miss." Janna grinned.

The Queen's elegant lips curved up into a smile. "Glad to hear it. _But_ it's late, or maybe early, and we should both get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day."

Janna sighed. "I'd sleep better with you here."

For once she wasn't teasing- the words had slipped from her tongue before she had realised she was thinking aloud. Elsa stopped by the door; Janna was expecting an outraged glare, but instead she looked back a little sadly, face edged with silver by the moonlight from the window.

"Believe me, so would I. But..." She lowered her gaze. "This isn't the forest."

Elsa left.

Janna stood there for a time, watching the bedroom door which Elsa, distracted, had left ajar behind her. When she felt she could, she looked down at the stack of women's clothes on her bed. Then she realised that, sweet as it was, her suitor had forgotten an important detail.

 _I really hope I'm still a woman tomorrow, or I'm going to have to find a guy my size and tie him up._

. .


	60. Chapter 60- Anna's Wedding

CHAPTER 60- Anna's Wedding

* * *

. .

 **KNOCK KNOCK**

"Wha... "

 **KNOCK KNOCK**

" _Vittusaatana,_ I'm _coming_. Who the hell _is_ it at six in the morning?"

"Sorry... It's me."

" _Elsa?_ What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing- at least I don't think... um. Look... are you..."

"Am I what?"

"Still... Janna?"

"Oh, I see. Yep, still a woman."

"Oh good. _No_ , sorry, I don't mean it like _that_. You know I don't mind, but I don't think we have men's clothes to fit you."

" _Oh..._ heh. Yeah, I wondered about that. Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"It's barely dawn. Have you been worrying about this all night?"

"Not... _all_ night..."

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa sipped her tea slowly, feeling its warmth trickling down her throat, pausing now and again just to breathe in the stimulating aroma of the one of the fine blends she had access to, having recently secured trade with Saudade to the far South. A tough negotiation, not with the Saudadine duchess so much as with Arendelle's burghers, who preferred familiar partners. The tea smelt like victory. Victory over proud old men.

As it happened, the tea also smelt like bergamot, but victory was sweeter. Yet even that could not take her mind off the hundred things which had to go right that morning.

Breakfast- she said breakfast for form's sake, although it had started after ten and it was now probably elevenses, or maybe brunch- had been trouble-free.

To begin with, Janna was still Janna. Then the Myrtlean had been more amused than anything when informed that Rapunzel was party to their little secret. Anna was in good spirits- she could barely sit still enough to wolf down her bread and toppings, while her sister, her cousin and her sister's suitor watched in... affectionate amusement.

Some passing comment by Rapunzel set Anna giggling again. Janna looked at her fondly. "You're bouncing off the walls. Looking forward to the day?"

She nodded energetically. "I can't wait. It's going to be _so_ good..."

Janna, Elsa, and Rapunzel all looked at her. Janna waggled an eyebrow. Anna blushed.

"I mean, finally being able to... have the wedding... and the cake, and- Oh! Is that the time?"

Anna bounded off, signalling the end of breakfast. Rapunzel hurried after her, waving to the Queen as she exited the room. As Elsa rose to attend to things herself, Janna grabbed her by the hand and squeezed it.

"It will be fine."

Elsa stopped, and looked into her suitor's eyes, sparkling blue amid black. Her hand felt very warm in hers; the unexpected contact had not unsettled Elsa as it might have a fortnight ago. She supposed they were getting more used to each other. "How did...?"

That earned her a snort. "How did I know that you're a ball of nerves? You're Elsa, and you're awake."

"Hilarious... Look, I just want today to be perfect for Anna."

Janna blinked. "It won't be. _Voi_..."

"What?" Elsa balked.

"It _won't_ be. Shit goes wrong." Janna shrugged. "Maybe something small, maybe big. I heard that at Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding the _cake_ went missing. Eight tiers, high as a man, gone like a shadow. Never explained. They still had a good time, though."

Janna rose and wrapped her arms around her, enfolding them in a warm hug that soothed some small part of the tension Elsa was feeling. Just the scent of the woman made her feel more assured. "It's not about getting things _perfect_. It's that you're here, her family, and you _cared_ enough to try as hard as you have."

There they stood, by the vacated dining room table, pressed against each other. Elsa sighed happily into the Myrtlean's shoulder. "Can we stay like this for a little while?"

" _Kultani_ , absolutely."

"But not long, because there's so much to do..."

"Yeah, I know."

. .

* * *

. .

Entering the church, Janna advanced with uncharacteristic unease, feeling the weight of everyone's gaze. And it was everyone- a sea of noble guests had turned in their pews to watch her come in. Her reputation must precede her.

 _I walk on water one time, and such a bloody fuss..._

 _... and also my predecessor destroyed their civilization..._

… _and let's not even get into the Bluebeard debacle..._

… _and I've- Elsa!_

Elsa was standing at the front with Halsing, benignly overseeing the gathering of guests. They probably evened out to two straight people. The thought brought a wicked smile to Janna's lips- a joke _no one_ else would get.

The Queen looked absolutely stunning, in a regal gown of roughly her usual cut, but in a rich golden cream that brought out the blonde in her hair. The dress was adorned with flourishes of teal and gold, which seemed to catch the light from the stained-glass windows so that she _gleamed_. Janna risked a wink at her.

* * *

As Janna stepped into the church, the polite whispering between herself and the Bishop faded from her perception like so much birdsong, and Elsa found herself struggling not to just brazenly _stare_.

Every eye had turned to watch the Lady of Crows take her seat, and Elsa couldn't blame them- Janna had made _very_ good use of the selection of clothing which she had sourced for her. The princess had produced something long-sleeved but bare-shouldered in deep blue silks, with a cut of laced bodice which revealed rather more _tattooing_ than it would have on Elsa herself; fine lines rose twisting and weaving as far as her collarbones, stark black against creamy flesh. The ensemble also showed off the lean muscle of her shoulders with an effect that was more, well, feminine than Elsa would have expected. Janna's skirts, the first Elsa had ever seen her wear, were deep black and clearly from a funeral gown- had she raided wardrobes as well?- which was scandalous at a wedding but admittedly perfect for her look. The scarf was still fastened around her neck, a warming reminder of their 'understanding'.

She _was_ still wearing her boots, which created an odd overall effect, but they looked clean at least.

Elsa stood at the front of the church watching Janna Marttila strolling up the aisle towards her, and struggled to hold her composure...

Then the pirate _winked_ at her, shamelessly. _Oh, that absolute stinker..._ She willed herself not to blush, indicating Janna's seat to her as subtly as she could.

Had Bishop Halsing- _no, no_...

She glanced back at him.

No, he was checking over the altar, quite oblivious to her gawking...

Elsa recognised a panic forming- the tightening in her chest, the tingling of power in her fingertips- and tried to breathe slow. An icy outburst was the last thing anyone wanted. She'd been sure that something must have shown in her face, her manner... that someone would have seen...

Slow breaths. Clear mind. Better.

 _How long can I even hide this? I'm not shut in my room any more._

. .

* * *

. .

 _Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff Kristoff!..._

Anna stood outside the chapel, allowing Gerda to fuss over her hair and dress like a kindly mother hen, and felt like she could just float off the ground if it weren't for the weight of all the ivory silk. Rapunzel caught her eye, looking gorgeous in her green bridesmaid's dress, and they both started grinning like idiots at each other. All dressed up and loved up and happy.

Her groom reminded his reindeer that he couldn't safely run around inside the chapel with such impressive antlers, so really it was a complement that he had to wait outside with the well-wishers. Sven seemed to go for it. Olaf was keeping him company anyway; the little snowman stood ready with a basket of rose petals as big as he was.

Once she could get hold of him, she adjusted the silver brooch on Kristoff's chest so it was more even. Kristoff forever! That was what today meant. From today it was Anna _and_ Kristoff, permanent and unbreakable, a unit, a winning team- as much a part of her nature as Elsa and Anna, Team Arendelle.

From today he was family. Her big, perfect goof, with his dumb smiles and blond hair that fluffed up when she played with it, and arms that were _so_ strong, that could pick her up like a feather...

"I sure hope I can remember everything..."

Anna giggled. "We walk, we say the words, we walk out, silly. What's to remember?"

Kristoff fidgeted with his collar again, understandably unused to noble finery, although he wore it _really_ well. Seriously, it was worth the whole effort of the day just to be reminded how well her broad-shouldered iceman could fill a proper uniform, when he was forced to. "I'm just sure I'm going to get _something_ wrong."

"The Bishop's a sweetheart, he'll prompt you. Besides, mostly it's just repeating things after him."

Her intended huffed like a grumpy puppy. "I guess... Aren't _you_ nervous at all?"

"Of what? We made it already." Anna went up on tippy-toes and kissed Grumpy Puppy on the cheek. "So long as we end the day together, _together together_ , I don't care if the reception floods and the cake is made out of rocks!"

She paused. The cake was to be seven tiers of chocolate.

"Well, maybe I care a _bit_..."

. .

* * *

. .

When Janna found the seat pointed out to her, it was already occupied by a Southern princeling, idly cleaning his fingernails. A hard tap on the shoulder got his attention; refreshingly, he was immediately apologetic and scooted over to make room. Perhaps she should dress up more often.

He introduced himself as Prince Tarben of Greensea. Janna knew of the place, south of Evensong where the northern sea opened to the west, strategically positioned and with enough naval clout to control all trade out to the Duchy Ports like Weselton and their barbarian neighbours, or down to Saudade or the Desert Lands. Maybe he was one of the war council invitees Elsa had squeezed onto the wedding list. If so Janna understood why- they needed allies with real military power. Best to be polite.

That said, there was a fishy rumour that they traded with _merfolk_ , both economically, and, based on a story Anna and Elsa had told her, _intimately_...

. .

" _She wasn't a bloody mermaid!" Jani laughed, rocking back in his saddle._

 _Anna scowled._

" _She was TOO. She was magically made human, and lost her voice. And then-"_

" _Anna..." Elsa gave her sister and guide both a long-suffering look. "Jani's right. Think about it. He met a mute amnesiac woman wandering the beach with no clothes on. That doesn't make her a mermaid just because it happened at Greensea."_

 _Anna pouted. Jani made a mental note to introduce the young princess to some fishermen once they reached Larkspur, who could educate her about the delicate nature of 'mermaids' in actual life. As like to skin you as sing for you..._

" _You have no sense of romance up here," grumbled the redhead, quite unfairly._

 _Jani tapped his forehead. "Anna, brain damage ain't romantic."_

 _Elsa tried and failed to suppress a snort of laughter, covering her mouth and going bright red. It was... adorable..._

. .

The memory made Janna smile as the prince continued his predictable pleasantries, probably the _grandson_ of that mute queen.

That said... Though she still didn't credit the tale, was it her imagination that made that bright smile Tarben flashed, with schooled charm, seem just a little _too_ pearly?

. .

* * *

. .

Two servants drew the chapel doors wide, with a ponderously slow creak. Everyone held their breath. Elsa gulped, although she didn't know why _she_ was the nervous one at _Anna's_ wedding.

Then the bride and groom entered, arm in arm, Anna in particular not so much _gliding_ up the aisle as marching forward with the same gusto that she brought to everything. The choir began in earnest, filling the air with ancient song. Elsa moved to the side to be out of the way of the ceremony, but never took her eyes off the sight.

 _Oh, sister, you look so absolutely perfect..._

They had spent a lot of time together, co-designing Anna's dream dress. It had involved a certain amount of charades- the bride-to-be had wanted a lot of features she didn't really know the names for- but Elsa was proud of the final result.

Her little sister shone like a vision in ivory silk, with a Queen Anne neckline bordered with leaf green and cap sleeves in the same colour. Floral rosemaling in emerald and green-gold ran up and down her pleated skirts. Mamma's silver wedding coronet perched proudly atop her braided copper hair. She wore no veil- they had experimented, but she had found them too distracting.

" _They're, like, right there in my face..." Yeah, that's the point, Anna..._

Anna's smile filled her whole face and made her eyes glitter like stars. The only outward sign of her nerves was how tightly she was clutching the bouquet of fresh green sprigs and creamy-white roses in her gloved hand. She looked like the Spring.

The groom's wedding clothes were deep Arendelle teal and bright leaf green, mostly in traditional style, but with pointed reindeer boots and a white silk sash crossed over his chest in the Sami manner. In truth Kristoff had been raised more by trolls than by his own people, but the couple had insisted on making a few special inclusions. Case in point- Anna's troll necklace now hung openly around her freckled neck, two dozen softly glowing crystals of blue and green and fiery red, the missing stone replaced with an ornate silver pendant.

As they drew close to the altar Kristoff looked down at his royal bride, and, if there had been any lingering doubt in Elsa's mind about him, it evaporated when she saw the look in his eyes. The man was in _awe_ of Anna.

 _Well, quite right._

If she were in Anna's place, that was _exactly_ how she would want her betrothed to look at her...

. .

* * *

. .

 _The ring!_

Anna loved this part of weddings. But, spinning round eagerly to watch Rapunzel present the ring to Kristoff for him to place on her finger, she forgot the weight of her skirts _and_ how her shoes were full of lucky coins. Lousy tradition...

A stumble, just a little one. _Out_ went her hand to catch herself, panic at the thought of tripping on the steps and falling on her face at her own wedding making her overreact, and _bop_ went the ring off its little cushion. She heard gasps from the choir.

 _The ring!_

Why was she always so clumsy? Time seemed to slow to a horrifying crawl, as the golden band bounced sideways off poor Rapunzel's forehead, and arced down, down, towards its inevitable loud, humiliating, bad-omen-signifying _ting_ against the floor.

Only... it landed silently in an open palm, eight inches above the ground. Janna shrugged nonchalantly and offered the ring up to Rapunzel, who took it from her hand, a little nervously, and placed it back on the cushion.

Anna leant over her and whispered. "Thank you."

"I have my uses." Janna examined her skirts and frowned. "Tore my hem _already_ ," she whispered.

"It's okay, I think it's one of mine."

With a wink to the Bishop, the Myrtle princess zipped back to her seat. It was handy to be fast... there was one guest who had _definitely_ earned her cake.

. .

* * *

. .

"They're coming! Get into position!"

"Hurry, Lars!"

The ice harvesters arranged themselves in two rows facing each other, either side of the chapel doors. Each carried a large antler from a bull reindeer, all of which, held up together like a sabre arch, formed a kind of spiky corridor.

Most of the guests had gathered out in the fresh air, and the more fun-loving ones had grabbed handfuls from Olaf's rose petal basket. The servants had also gathered in a small, neat group, shoes buffed and uniforms freshly pressed, to cheer the beloved princess whom they'd watch grow from a suckling babe to a beautiful bride.

"Here they come. Antlers up!"

The crowd erupted into applause as the bride and groom emerged, showering them with fistfuls of white petals as they walked together under the arch of reindeer antlers. Kristoff had to duck a bit to get under the young Lars', laughing and joking as a point nearly caught him in the eye.

Many hands were shaken. Many wishes were well-wished. Anna broke free from a pincer movement of noble ladies to make her way over to where the maids were standing and share a big, warm hug with Gerda. A few guests tutted under their breath at the familiarity with mere servants, but so long as they did so quietly they could hardly spoil the mood.

After offering the bride and groom the kind of careful hugs you had to give when everyone was in finery, Janna stepped away to give other friends a turn, and nearly bumped into Elsa, who had an odd look in her eye.

"A wink? Really?"

Janna looked around them, immediately very mindful of the large and gossipy crowd of well-connected observers all about them. If _she_ was self-conscious, Elsa's nerves were probably thin as hairs. "Aye. Sorry..."

She couldn't stop her eyes straying. The flashes of blue-green on Elsa's dress were intricate leaf patterns, ornamented with minute mother-of-pearl beads to resemble dewdrops. "I thought you'd be wearing ice."

"Yes, I _always_ wear ice." Elsa didn't roll her eyes, but sounded like she was thinking about it. "My powers are a wonderful way to experiment, but from time to time I do like to try silk and satin."

"Satin _is_ silk."

"You don't know to wear _heels_ but you know fabrics... Anyway, that's a simplific- oh..."

Then they were interrupted, as one of the well connected observers bore down on them. A tallish and extremely voluptuous woman, dark hair crowned with a small silver diadem, her outfit all whalebone and gilt embroidery, she sailed magnificently up to Elsa like a... busty galleon... That metaphor had gotten away from Janna, on reflection.

"Princess Kristin," Elsa said, a little wider-eyed than Janna would have preferred. "I'm glad you could make it. The seas have been so changeable."

"It's a pleasure to be here, " the princess replied in a melodious lilt. "My brother sends his best. Just _promise_ me you'll try to relax and have some fun this evening."

"Anna is insisting on it, don't worry." The Queen remembered to introduce the other princess present. "Oh, have you met yet? This is, _um_ , Crown Princess Janna Marttila, of Myrtle. Janna, this is Princess Kristin of Evensong."

Janna grinned. " _That's_ the city. I couldn't quite place the accent."

"Nor I yours. It's so..."

"Rough?"

"Um... _nautical_. But in any case, I'm charmed to meet _both_ our saviours from the other day."

"Charmed to meet _you_ , princess. And may I say, you look lovely this afternoon." _See Elsa? I can be polite._

"I... well thank you." Kristin ran her hands over her bodice self-consciously, as if expecting a hole to have appeared in the carvel, although her eyes did not stray from Elsa once. "But I fear our host the Queen has effortlessly outclassed us all."

"Oh, don't say that..." Elsa blushed. "I was trying to keep it simple."

 _Simple._ The 'simple' lines of her glimmering dress sweeping across her figure, the 'simple' but picture perfect ice flowers woven through her lustrous hair... Janna would have liked to confirm that Elsa's shabbiest looked better than anyone else's _best_ , but not in company. She'd just about managed not to outshine the bride, although right now Anna was truly a vision herself. _God, we all look so good today._

"You really must let me know who made it," trilled Kristin admiringly.

Janna smiled, remembering the contents of Elsa's sketchbook. "Actually, she designs-"

"-All of my outfits! Yes, she does." Elsa interrupted quickly, flashing her slightly startled suitor a warning look. "I suppose I'll look into it."

Kristin soon sailed off back into the crowd of well-wishers, promising to catch Elsa again during the party.

Janna shrugged. "Nice woman. Well, you snooze, you lose."

"What?" Elsa looked puzzled, bless her.

"Nothing, nothing... Isn't that bearchaser who sells jam at the harbour from Evensong?"

"I swear sometimes you just make up words... I need to check on something." Elsa backed away from Janna and the conversation, trying and failing to look casual about it. "We'll speak later, I promise." Then she whisked herself away and was gone, leaving Janna quite alone amid the multitude.

Janna watched the nobles milling about obliviously, replaying in her mind something Elsa had once confessed to her.

 _...I don't know how I feel about... this. All of this. I don't know if it's right, for me or for Arendelle, or if there's any future in it. But I can't figure it out on my own. If I put a stop to this, us, right now, I know it would be out of fear, and I'd never really fix anything. I'd just go back to concealing that part of me. It's... a problem I have..._

This 'discretion'... Eventually they had to shit or get off the pot. But would the Queen come to terms with that, or fall back into bad old habits?

Still, the courtyard was beginning to clear. Now they were coming to the most important part of any wedding. The party.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:** I based the wedding largely on Swedish tradition. Bridesmaids are few or absent, and rather than the bride being 'given away' she and the groom walk up the aisle together- although some younger Swedes are actually switching to the UK/American model due to the influence of anglophone TV and film. The rest of the day is spent eating, drinking and speechifying. Sami weddings involve wearing enormously colourful and ornate clothing, including lots of silver brooches.


	61. Chapter 61- The Reception, Part 1

CHAPTER 61: The Reception, Part 1

* * *

. .

 _On your best behaviour_ , Gerda had said. _On your best behaviour._

Her teal serving dress smoothed down for the tenth time, and after a quick pat to check that the ribbon holding her troublesome caramel curls together in a neat bun was still _exactly_ in place, Alva decided that she was presentable enough to be seen outside the kitchens. Taking a deep breath, she re-entered the crowd of revellers celebrating the Princess' wedding, her tray reloaded with delicate whites, rich reds and smooth brandies to keep all the rich and powerful of the northern seas happy and smiling. It was a sight to see: the great ballroom and three adjoining halls were decked out with a thousand delicious things.

The wedding cake took pride of place- several tiers of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate dyed in the colours of Arendelle. Several chunks had already been cut out, as the bride hadn't wanted to wait. Princess Anna loved chocolate, and the cooks, like the rest of the kingdom, loved Princess Anna. Alva was proud to do her little part. She wouldn't let anyone down.

The crowds of Important People filling the rooms were still making her head spin. So much silk, so much whalebone, so much gold and silver finery. So many kings and queens, princes and princesses. Dukes and duchesses. Lords and Ladies.

How did she tell which were which? Most of them weren't wearing crowns or anything. What hat did you wear when they made you a duchess?

She offered her selection of drinks to a portly man in red who was carving himself a rich, heavy slab of the marvellous cake. The air smelled sweet with it, and Alva couldn't help but gaze, mouth watering. The man insisted on offering her some, which she politely declined, and said he was a Phuro from the Thousand Caravans, come to talk business with the _kralisi_. Did that mean the Great Fair would be coming to Arendelle?

She went from guest to guest, crossing the halls with her array of glasses delicately balanced on their tray, just as she'd practiced. The princess of Corona was sticking to orange juice. She had beautiful, golden hair, but Alva was kind of disappointed that it wasn't a hundred feet long, like she'd heard...

What an evening, though. Everything she'd dreamed of since she had first been taken on at the castle.

She wouldn't let anyone down.

. .

* * *

. .

"That's better," sighed Elsa patiently, having attached yet another flower to Anna's wedding gown.

"Thanks, sis!" Anna burbled brightly. "Are you sure _you_ don't want any more cake?"

Elsa smiled, smoothing out her dress as she stood. "I've never had quite your appetite."

Anna's non-negotiable insistence on a chocolate wedding cake, aside from the purely technical challenge of making something that gooey in tiers, had stood rather at odds with the social necessity of a white wedding dress. Elsa's solution had been to prepare a number of white silk roses which could be pinned to the bodice or skirts wherever fudgy icing had left its mark.

Trouble was, Anna had always been something of a klutz, and after hours of dancing and feasting and fine Coronan wine the roses were _all_ now on the dress. Any further stains would have to remain visible.

Anna liked dresses, but didn't seem to take them seriously. When Elsa got married, she'd keep her wedding gown spotless, to keep as a memento.

 _When?_

"Janna's still talking to that prince," Anna commented.

Elsa followed the bride's line of sight over to the punch bowl. "That _prince_ is still talking to _Janna_ ," she muttered. There was a difference, and Anna seemed to see it too. Janna had attracted plenty of attention from the guests who had heard of her exploits, or rumours of her magic. Everyone already present in Arendelle when the attack had happened probably owed her their lives, after all. But Prince Tarben of Greensea seemed to be taking entirely too special an interest in the fugitive Northern princess for either her, or Elsa's liking. But she supposed this was always inevitable...

.

 _"And it's important that you are someone I can trust- to be discreet, not to push me, to do things properly. Insofar as propriety is still possible."_

 _"Propriety?"_

 _"Yes. I am a Queen. I have to be mindful of my station. I carry the reputations of my kingdom and my family, and I don't have the right to throw either away by acting brazenly."_

.

She would find some way to make it up to Janna later.

Her sister huffed, in spite of her gaze already starting to stray back to the dessert table. "Why doesn't she just tell him to back off?"

"Well, she promised to behave herself," Elsa pointed out, with just a pang of guilt. "She's just waiting for a good excuse to rebuff him."

Anna looked curiously over at Janna, who was just glaring at the prince now, then back to her sister, equally curiously. "Is that the voice of experience?"

Elsa paused, hands kneading her braid anxiously as she considered. King Konrad, the Duke of Kernev's son, both princes of Arelat, a good half-dozen counts... each time, deep down, she'd known within seconds. But somehow the charade of courtship had been maintained, out of... what? Guilt? Fear? What a fool she could be.

"In retrospect..."

. .

* * *

. .

Alva stopped by the fish table. "Why thank you, pretty little thing." A nobleman smirked at her as he lifted a glass from her tray, his curling moustache waggling like grasshopper wings. He winked at her; it was a little intimidating.

She was about to step away when she felt a hand on her butt. _Oh God._

"The girls here in Arendelle are all so lovely." His words slurred slightly. He pulled her in closer. "I just arrived you know. You know who I am?" She shook her head silently, feeling like a cornered rabbit.

But he was someone Very Important. _On your best behaviour..._

She glanced towards the kitchens, trying to think of how to escape gracefully. Her brain didn't seem to be working.

 _What do I do?_

"Sir, your hand..."

" _Sir?_ " His eyebrows shot up with outrage, and his grip tightened. _Oh no, what did I say?_ "I am a Lord, young wench. I am- ow!"

That was when the hand on her butt was deftly peeled away and up, appearing in the grip of a young noblewoman with short black hair. Alva had noticed her earlier- the tattoos over her chest made it hard not to. Her eyes now burned with chilly fire under their dark brows.

"Yes, you are a Lord of sorts. Marquess Dunniwell, the courtesy invite from the Duchy Ports? I _thought_ I saw you grabbing arse with that redhead earlier."

Alva didn't know whether it would be rude to run away at this point, so she stayed put. The marquess' face was bright red with outrage."Let go of-"

"I am a Lord of a _different_ sort. Tell me, have you ever stuck your hand down someone's throat?"

The dark-haired lady asked it as if it were a perfectly ordinary question.

"Well?"

The marquess didn't answer. He kept glancing at his hand, which had gone very pale.

His captor's tattoos bobbed as she sighed. "It's just interesting. When someone's choking their instinct is to open the airway, so it's hard for them to bite down hard and firm. You get lots of little, sort of _hacking_ bites... _but_ , I digress."

Steadily, but firmly, she pulled the man's arm up to chest level.

"Here's the deal. You are going to leave this party now, harass no one else while they're doing their jobs, and head back to whatever rat-shit tavern room your little Duchy rented you."

"I'll have you... I..." The marquess seemed torn between yelling and crying. Still firmly in the strange woman's grip, his fingers were now yellowish white. Her eyes began to glow like blue candle flames, and his spluttering gave way to silence.

"Take the deal. That way, _you_ get to live. That way, _I_ don't have to skin my knuckles ripping the tongue out of your piss-drinking mouth."

The marquess had gone very green.

" _And_ I don't have to miss half the party finding somewhere to hide your twisted little body. You agreed?" She shook his limp fingers. " _Are you agreed?_ "

The marquess nodded meekly. She released him; he stumbled back a couple of steps, then more or less fled the room.

The woman with the shining eyes picked up a napkin from the table and wiped her fingers. "Terror sweat," she explained.

"I'm so sorry," Alva babbled, "I was just here, and then he, he-"

"Don't be sorry, kid," the lady interrupted her. "Don't ever be sorry."

"But he was a Lord..."

"So?"

. .

* * *

. .

Across the room, Eugene watched Princess Janna lead the shaken serving girl back to the kitchens with a nod of grudging approval. Then he collected a glass of bubbly from her abandoned tray and wandered back towards his wife.

She was waiting for him at the door of the ballroom, green eyes sparkling with fun. Taking his hand, she dragged him in, weaving among the couples already swaying to the strains of the string quartet.

"It's too early to dance, Raps."

"Nonsense. See these people?"

"They're drunk. When you're drunk, it's always time to dance. Hmm... actually..." He held his glass up to her lips.

Rapunzel pushed the champagne away, wrinkling her nose. "I told you a hundred times, it makes my head feel funny."

"And I told you a hundred times, Blondie, _that's the point_." They laughed, and he took a sip himself. They weren't dancing properly, just moving a bit to the music as they talked. The ballroom was actually nicer than the one at Corona, if smaller. The food tables were set up out of the way, in colonnades which ran the length of the room hung with red velvet curtains; both end walls were decorated with spectacular tapestries, which some still-keen part of his mind told him had to be worth an absolute fortune. Four years of honest living, and he still couldn't stop himself casing the joint.

He did a double take at one tapestry depicting a woman with long, golden hair, out of which wild flowers were blossoming. But it was at least a century old, so he put it down to coincidence.

"I saw the Princess of Myrtle threaten a man, by the way. Just going to mention that."

Rapunzel's eyes widened. " _Not_ the Prince of Greensea?"

"No, the one with the moustache from the Duchies. Something about tearing out tongues."

"Geez, that woman. Why?"

Eugene hesitated. " _Kind_ of a story... I'll admit the guy had it coming."

"If you say so... was Prince Tarben around for that? Maybe she was trying to put him off."

"Not by then. _He_ lost interest when Janna wouldn't introduce him to _Elsa_."

Rapunzel snorted with sudden laughter. "So he was just after... Oh, no. Really?" Based on what she had revealed to Eugene that morning, being used by a young suitor as a way into _Elsa's_ company would tick Janna off on more than one level.

Eugene nodded, grinning. "That suggestion killed the conversation pretty quick. _Though he's luckier than he knows..._ Not sort of woman you mess with."

" _No_..." Rapunzel shook her head vigorously. She'd had her own tangle with the 'Lady of Crows', and although _Rapunzel_ insisted that all was made up and mended Eugene still intended to keep a close eye on this newest magic royal. His wife was too trusting by half. "Though she's not always 'she', remember."

Eugene still hadn't quite got his head around _that_ part yet. "Did Elsa explain how that works exactly? Is it an upstairs-downstairs rearrangement, or is she going to grow four inches and have stubble all of a sudden?"

"We didn't really get into it..." Rapunzel looked over at Anna and Elsa, her two cousins, who were stood together watching as the dancers moved across the floor. Anna had a plateful of cake in her hands, obviously. She would be dancing with Kristoff later; her sister Elsa hadn't even danced at her own coronation, so Eugene assumed she just wasn't the type.

"Look at her," Rapunzel murmured, nodding towards the Queen. "What do you see?"

Eugene weighed his options carefully. Very carefully. "Er, what do _you_ see?" was his eventual answer.

Rapunzel laughed. "Not everything's a trick question, silly. Okay then." Her smile softened.

"She _hates_ crowds. High stress situations. Pressure. They terrify her. But here she is anyway."

She drew close to Eugene, whispering gently in her husband's ear. "So every occasion, every summit, every negotiation, every society event, she feels a part of her wanting to panic. Her legs wanting to buckle under her and scurry away. And each time she has to fight it. Confront it. Tame it. And know that she has won _this_ time, but next time the fear will come again, just as hard."

Eugene nodded, understanding. "But here she is anyway."

"Here she is. Each time. For her people, for her family. Moth-" She winced. " _Gothel_ shut me away, but now I'm free. S _he_ carries her jailer _inside_ her. Elsa struggles every single day to not be trapped again by her _own nature_."

Eugene whistled. "I never thought of it that way. How do you think she does it?"

A grin blossomed across Rapunzel's cheeks.

"How does _anyone_ do it, Eugene? She has a _dream_..."

. .

* * *

. .

Some way out into the northern seas lies a number of large and rocky islands. The largest and most populous of these islands is crowned by a great limestone tower with a conical roof, standing proud amid the clouds like a colossal toadstool, or perhaps a wizard's hat- depending on the fancy of the observer.

The tower is quite huge for the size of the kingdom, easily double the size of the castle in nearby Arendelle, and in the frequent, wet storms and squalls which blow over the islands at all times of year it groans and shudders, as if struggling under the weight of its inhabitants. Although the tower is, in fact, quite structurally sound.

At a window in the tower, a level or two below the top, a prince looks out into the grey evening light, scratching at his coarse auburn beard and grumbling. The week has been disappointing.

His father, the King, is raving as ever, squawking and flapping amid the rafters like a beast. The prince's twelve younger brothers are even now plotting against him- although that is a long-standing family tradition and hardly news. In any case, this recent humiliation was not his alone. All five elder siblings had agreed to the strike against Arendelle.

Crown Prince Valdemar of the Southern Isles looks down at his harbour, which now houses one flagship instead of two, and wonders how the meeting with Kaarlo's ambassador will go.

At least his agents are in position. Not all war is conducted in the open, after all...

. .

* * *

. .


	62. Chapter 62- The Reception, Part 2

CHAPTER 62- The Reception, Part 2

* * *

. .

"I... demand... I demand... satisfaction!"

Anna hurried out into the courtyard, holding her dress up at both sides and pushing past a couple of upset-looking noble ladies she didn't even recognise. Quite a few guests had been happily talking and sipping drinks in the warm evening light, but now there was some kind of commotion that had sent everyone scurrying back inside like frightened hens.

A very drunk man, who seemed to be in tears, was waving a sword around with one hand, while with the other he brandished a large wax seal as if it were a magical talisman. He was rambling loudly about something.

As she neared him she recognised the representative of the Duchy ports. Marquess Something. Elsa had been suspicious of his presence- Weselton were persona non... person _ae_ non grat _ae_ \- _Yeah, see Elsa? I was listening in classes_ \- since the Duke had tried to kill Elsa, but the other Duchies hadn't said a word to them since. Now after a year of the cold shoulder they were sending wedding guests?

A pair of guardsmen were approaching him from the other side. Anna gestured to them to hold back for now. She cleared her throat loudly. "Excuse me, my Lord."

The man jumped, saw her, and only seemed to get more agitated. "Princess! Your Highness!" He executed a very messy bow, with strange jerks of the limbs that reminded her so much of the Duke of Weselton that she wondered if they were actually related. His hair stayed in place, though. There was a _lot_ of snot in his moustache... at least she hoped it was snot...

" _You?_ " Anna hadn't heard Janna arrive, but was relieved to hear her voice behind her, given there was a very upset, sozzled and _armed_ man to tackle.

Or maybe not...

"You! Her! That, that-" The Marquess forgot himself entirely and staggered towards Janna, holding his sword out like a lance. That was quite enough, Anna decided, and grabbed the man's sword hand and wrist as he rushed past, twisting just _so_ that he yelped and dropped the blade. Janna grunted in approval at seeing Anna pull off a move she had taught her on the road, and snatched up the sword, holding it level with the Marquess' belt buckle.

"What the hey?" Anna looked from noble to noble. "Someone start explaining, _right now_." She was weirdly proud of how much she sounded like Elsa right then. She might not be the Queen, but she was sure as sundown queen of _this wedding_. Troublemakers beware.

Janna hissed in irritation. "Shit, this is embarrassing. Look-"

"She threatened me! Threatened to kill me!" He now clutched his wax seal in both hands, up against his chest as if it could stop a crossbow bolt. "An appointed representative of the Duchies of Shrimpweathering, Weselton, Pollacking-Newton..."

At this point Anna put a hand up to stop his list- this was a very serious situation, and there was no way she could listen to any more without corpsing. S _o Shrimpweathering is pronounced 'Shoe-ing'... Yeah, right..._

"... and this, this monster..."

Anna groaned, and turned to the other princess. "Janna, what did you do?"

"What did _I_ do?" The Myrtlean's eyes flared black and indigo. "This scurvy little knobstain was feeling up the girls. He had some poor servant cornered and his hand on her arse. I stopped him. Then I..." She faltered a little. "I _kind of_ threatened to drown him in his own blood."

She held up her hands. "I honestly didn't expect him to come back."

Anna reminded herself that she wasn't supposed to scream. Well aware of the weirdness of giving orders while in a wedding dress spattered with chocolate, she gestured to the two guards, who marched up and stood to attention.

"Seize him."

"What? What is the meaning?" the Marquess harumphed in startled outrage.

" _My Lord_ ," Anna, Queen of the Wedding, declared. "I don't know how you do things out west, but this is Arendelle, and our servants are _family_. Birgit and Alva and Elise are good people-"

"Alva," Janna murmured. _The shy girl, with light brown hair? Ew, she's half his age. Not that it matters.  
_

"- And being a noble doesn't make it okay to act as you please. Take him to the dungeon. In the morning he will get on his ship and _leave_."

"The dungeon? Princess?" The Marquess kicked and screamed as the guards dragged him away.

 _I guess that's another year of none of the Duchies talking to us pretty much in the bag..._

About a minute passed. Anna glared at Janna.

"Well?"

Janna blushed. "Er..."

"I'm waiting for you to say it."

"Okay..." The crow lord winced, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I know. This is your kingdom. You have guards, you have rules, you have laws."

"We do. You could have come to me."

"...I could have gone to you."

"Why didn't you?"

Janna stared at her hands for a couple of long moments, jaw tense. She'd clearly had a difficult evening. Anna wasn't even really _that_ annoyed... Janna's temper had probably done them a favour- Elsa was sure the Duchy Ports had only sent an envoy so he could spy on them.

"I saw red... I think, at that moment, only _threatening_ to hurt him was the best I could manage." She looked up at Anna; her eyes were moist. "I'm sorry I'm like this. I really am. Please don't tell Elsa."

Anna blinked. "What? _Elsa_?"

"I promised her I'd behave."

That was such an incongruously sweet thing for her to say at that moment that Anna couldn't suppress a guffaw, startling the Myrtlean princess who seemed... _genuinely worried_ about her sister's reaction. "Yeah, she makes me promise that, too."

"Sorry I haven't spoken to you all day. It's your wedding after all, and I've been here eating all the cake."

Anna purred aloud, heart at once alive with thoughts of fudge. " _Such_ a cake... I know it's complicated with Elsa, and I've been with her most of the time, so I get it."

Janna smiled awkwardly, looking relieved that most of the tension was gone. "Congratulations on your wedding, Anna. Hope I didn't ruin it."

"Not quite. Still got my Kristoff. Oh, and he loves the sword you got him." A Myrtlean blade had found its way into the wedding gifts. Probably belonged to someone Janna had choked to death, but Anna wasn't judging.

Janna's smile broadened. "He's a good man. Can he _actually_ use it?"

"Gosh, no," Anna laughed. "Maybe I'll teach him. Now lets go back inside, before Elsa hears there was a ruckus here and we _both_ have to explain ourselves..."

. .

* * *

. .

Standing in position in front of the royal thrones, Elsa cleared her throat, and waited for the hubbub of conversation among the assembled guests to die down.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began, "Lords, Duchesses and Dukes, Princesses and Princes, Queens, Kings... our noble guests, whatever your station..."

The servants had begun to move through the guests, distributing glasses of the _good_ champagne for the final toast.

She lowered her eyes. "As you all know, our royal mother and father left this world four years ago, and never got to see their daughters wedded."

She paused a moment to collect herself. Talking about her parents brought tears to her eyes at the best of times.

 _Who could say what our lives might have been, for better or worse, if the sea winds had blown fairer? That day changed everything and it was unfair. Is unfair. Pappa should be making this speech. He deserved to see Anna happy on her wedding day. Instead the father of the bride speech is relegated to me, the substitute parent as well as monarch._

 _That said, had Mamma and Pappa lived, would Kristoff even be in our lives? Without my coronation, would Olaf and Marshmallow even exist?_

 _Maybe 'should-have-been' is wholly the wrong way to think about our destinies in the first place._

 _I've paused too long. They probably all think I'm tipsy._

"But if there is one thing that I am certain of, it is that our parents were always proud of Anna. Her warmth and light brighten the lives of everyone around her. And he would be delighted at the courageous woman she has grown to be." She smiled at her sister, who was blushing furiously. "The fierce, funny, loving person she is- the _best_ of sisters, the best of _friends_. And now Kristoff is joining our family he too will know the joy of living with Anna."

She turned to the groom. "Just... never let her cook anything." Anna glared at Elsa, then at Kristoff, who managed to keep a reasonable poker face. The gratifying hubbub of amusement from the crowd indicated that enough people had heard about the soup incident- Elsa had been irrationally worried that the joke wouldn't land right...

. .

* * *

. .

" _Emperor in purple gown_

 _Lord of man hid like a boy_

 _Golden crown_

 _Tumble down_

 _Preening princes we destroy..."_

 _. ._

Wouldn't _that_ be more fun than going back up and talking to them... Head resting on the one part of the table not covered with collected trays and dishes, the Lady of Crows hummed idly to herself as she watched the tiny bubbles percolating through the deep amber of her full wine glass. Sparkling wine. What marvellous bullshit Southerners came up with.

"You'll miss the Queen's speech, Princess."

Janna looked up at Kai wearily. "I _can't_. All afternoon, all evening I've smiled and minded my language- well, except this one time- and I've only just escaped. I'll toast them down here."

Kai fidgeted with his own glass. The sommelier had headed back down to the cellar, and with the cooks over by the fireplace they were alone at the kitchen table. "They'll note your absence. Have you congratulated the bride, at least?"

Janna nodded. "I caught her when Elsa was elsewhere."

"Very wise," Kai considered. "Less fuel for gossip."

"Aye. Except I bloody saved them all the other night, which makes you a bit conspicuous at a party. All day, it's 'Tell us about the battle, Princess'. 'Tell us about the mountains, Princess. Was it dangerous?' What can I _tell_ them? How we met? What happened? I don't have all the little lies to dance around it with."

Impulsively she emptied her glass down her throat, as if booze could help- she couldn't even get drunk. Fizzy as it was, the wine was very fine, full and rounded, but there was something...

"Are these glasses clean?" She examined hers. "There's an odd aftertas-"

An unexpected belch forced its way out through her nose as twin puffs of blue-grey smoke.

Her stomach burned. Her blood burned.

And it wasn't the alcohol.

The wine!

The wedding!

The speech!

ELSA!

She knocked Kai's glass onto the stone floor with a sharp crash.

"Bad. Bad. Not good. Trust me."

The royal overseer watched the foreign princess bolt back up the steps to the wedding reception, quite baffled.

. .

* * *

. .

 _I've nearly made it to the toast. Peace, Elsa. Reach the finish line._

Elsa smiled, and raised her glass to Kristoff and Anna, who had linked hands. Gosh, they were adorable today.

"-As he has always proven to be. And with that, I'm done embarrassing you two. So, my royal Majesties..." She turned to the assembled guests, each with a glass of champagne in hand.

"My Graces; my Lords, my Ladies, and my noble gentlemen..." She smiled at the Phuro, unsure what his form of address actually was. He didn't look offended, so maybe she'd covered him.

"Please join me in a toast to the br-"

"ELSAA!"

 _Janna?_

Her suitor charged into the crowd, pushing people aside and attracting shouts of surprise and irritation from those whose glasses she'd upset.

Her eyes were crackling with fire, but it was far less frightening than the look of sheer, blackout _panic_ on her face as Janna charged towards her. As she screamed Elsa's name, smoke poured out of her mouth and nose.

As her mind put the pieces together, events seemed to move oddly slowly. She could see the indignation souring on some faces, amusement or bafflement on others, still more shrinking back in alarm. Somewhere in her mind's eye, meanwhile, she saw a boy riding beside her in the woods, eating toxic, waxy berries a little gnome had given him...

And he laughed, and a delicate streamer of smoke curled from his lips...

The next three things happened almost exactly at once. Firstly, Janna reached Elsa and slapped the champagne glass from her hand with painful force. Secondly, out of the corner of her eye, the King of Day Isle shrugged and raised his glass to his lips.

Thirdly, Elsa's mind finished putting the pieces together, and she _got it_.

 _Oh God, the wine._

"STOP!" She heard herself scream, and the command became an action, as something magical jolted in her heart, and the air flashed white.

When the glare faded, the blinking guests stood stock still, looking rather dazed. Their hair and eyebrows were lightly frosted. The King of Day Isle lowered his glass, turned it upside down, and shook it. The champagne didn't move.

. .

* * *

. .

Things subsequently occured rather as one might expect. Kai reported that he had found the sommelier dead at the foot of the wine cellar steps; the poor man's heart had stopped within minutes of testing the deadly vintage.

A murderous plot had narrowly been avoided.

It was extremely embarrassing for Arendelle, given that their security was clearly wanting. Still, _surely_ everyone would now recognise the need for action...

. .

* * *

. .

That night...

As the sled reached the place where the valley widened out, hot steam blowing from geysers to mist the cool air of the summer night, two, then four, then four dozen boulders rolled their way out of the trees, lining the path either side of them like an honour guard. Then they transformed, opening out into squat, rocky beings with kindly faces, who watched the two visitors approach the clearing with beaming smiles, whispering and chuckling to each other.

Eventually Anna and Kristoff dismounted and pulled down their hoods, leading their reindeer over to where a pair of their troll hosts stood waiting. Anna absent-mindedly fingered her engagement necklace, which glowed in the darkness like a string of christmas lanterns. She wasn't scared. Not exactly.

The ride had been good. Her nerves had settled down after the... _actual_ _assassination attempt, wow_... and she was ready to put it behind her and be anxious about the usual wedding night issues. She wasn't going to let dirty Southern Isle plots ruin tonight for her.

"Kristoff! Anna!" Cliff and Buda screamed, running up to the newlyweds and wrapping short but very strong arms around them both at roughly knee level. At the same time, the trollish observers around and behind them burst into noisy applause and shouts of congratulation, throwing bunches of wild valley flowers high into the air so that the petals began to settle, softly, like many-coloured snowfall on the ground, and on the heads and shoulders of their human guests.

Kristoff patted his foster mother's grassy head and gave Anna a wry smile. "Well, we made it."

"How was the wedding?" asked Cliff.

Where to begin. Anna whistled. "Um... eventful. There was an attack on the castle. But we're alright."

"You will be safe here with us. Your honeymoon bower has been prepared." Pabbie emerged from the shadows, his stern but kindly manner unmistakable. "We will watch over you."

"But not _too_ closely," Kristoff insisted.

Pabbie ignored him, instead stepping past the couple and peering down the path up which they'd just come. "Something approaches. Something old and... _odd_."

"Got him!" a small voice cried in the near distance. In the shadows there was a loud and startled _neigh_ , followed by a _thud_ , and somebody yowled and swore.

That somebody staggered up the dark path towards Anna and Kristoff, looking briefly two-headed and monstrous before they came forward into the starlight and turned out to be Janna, struggling vainly with the small troll clinging to her neck like a determined limpet.

"Let go of her, Bit," Kristoff groaned. The infant troll looked disappointed, but dropped to the ground and rolled away to guard some other corner of valley.

"Did Elsa ask you to follow us?" Anna asked. Janna nodded sheepishly. "Figures."

"Someone _just_ tried to kill everyone," the Lady of Crows pointed out. "I thought I'd see you safely to the trolls, then she could rest easy." She sighed. "Relatively."

Pabbie held up Janna's hand and sniffed it. She snatched it away with a hiss.

"Janna, this is Grand Pabbie." Kristoff scratched his head. "Kind of the troll of trolls."

"The troll of trolls can keep his mitts to himself."

The old troll looked up at Janna curiously. She glared down with luminous eyes. She really was very beautiful, in a terrifying sort of way.

"I've never seen a dwarf above ground before."

"You still haven't, for I am a troll. I have never seen _your_ like, in all my ages."

"I'm technically impossible, or so our progenitor likes to boast."

"Are you man or woman?"

"Yes and yes."

Pabbie rubbed his chin, considering. " _Bytting_?"

"A hybrid," Kristoff whispered in Anna's ear.

Janna nodded. " _Huldrebytting_."

Pabbie's bushy eyebrows narrowed. "So, she finally succeeded... in a way. You are a long way from home, child of the _Tallemaja._ "

"Tell me about it." Janna shrugged, and turned, walking quickly back down the path. "Been great, but Elsa is worrying, and will keep worrying up until the point I get back and promise her you're not eaten by wolves... and my horse ran off somewhere, thanks to that pebble. Have fun, you two."

Anna waved goodbye bemusedly, as the crow lord slipped into the darkness of the trees. She reckoned she had followed about a quarter of that conversation.

She turned to Kristoff, and felt something within her warming in anticipation. "So, _husband_ , show me where we're staying."

. .

* * *

. .

Janna sat down at the foot of her new bed and ran bare hands down the dark oak posts on either side of her. The large doors beyond the dressing table probably led to that balcony she had been promised. Her boots cast aside at the door, bare feet now sank into sumptuously thick carpet. This room _was_ nicer.

"Do you like it?"

She looked up at her glamorous benefactrix, and could only grin stupidly. Elsa's rare beauty was so striking that she somehow never quite got used to it. The fifth time she saw the Queen in the course of a day made her black heart spasm the same as the first. "I _love_ it..."

"Well, you did save everyone _again_." Elsa took her hand, and pulled her off the bed. "Come."

She opened those doors, and they were, indeed, on a small but well-appointed balcony.

" _You_ saved those people, Elsa. I just panicked instead of warning you clearly."

Her suitor shrugged, displacing the blonde plait on her shoulder by a couple of inches, which she quickly adjusted. "I don't think you'll ever learn to just take a complement. Regardless, it wasn't any trouble. The King of Night Isle was here, but he preferred a smaller room closer to the stables and further from the Day Isle King."

"Those two are weird."

Elsa nodded, not contesting the statement. Then she pointed to the balcony directly above them.

"That's my room. Straight above."

Janna hummed thoughtfully, squeezing Elsa's hand in hers. "Perfect for serenades..."

"Maybe..." Elsa blushed.

"I could probably climb up without much trouble..."

"A serenade or two will suffice," Elsa insisted quickly. Then she took Janna in her arms and held her tight. Janna could feel the cold and warmth of her. And her heartbeat, rapidly drumming away.

"Thank you. _Thank you._ "

She was scared. No surprise. The kitchen would be better guarded from now on, but still...

"Kaarlo will die," she promised aloud.

Elsa pulled away, and shook her head. "That's _not_ what I want to talk about."

"Fair play."

"I still feel... shaken by the whole business. How close we came. How this is my life now. Food tasters and guards at every door. But what I... Gosh, how do I..."

Janna, Lady of Crows, softly brushed a whisp of white-blonde hair out of Elsa's eyes. "Take your time."

"I... I _missed_ you today. I know we were both there, but..."

She nodded, understanding perfectly. Although Elsa _had_ kind of brought it on both of them.

"Me too."

"Everyone kept _talking_ about you, and your family, and the mountains, and some had heard rumours about you and your changes, and I didn't know what to say..."

Her voice was cracking. "All I wanted to do was run over and find you, because we only talked for half a minute and I forgot to tell you..."

Breathing in deep, Elsa reached up and placed both her hands gently behind Janna's head, as if about to kiss her, fingers tangling together with the locks of her black hair. Her blue eyes moved down over her suitor, slowly, drinking her in as they stood together under starlight, with no one to see, or to judge.

"Today, tonight... no one has _ever_ looked so beautiful to me as you do, Janna Marttila. No one."

For once, Janna didn't have a comeback.

. .

* * *

. .


	63. Chapter 63- Happiness and Holmgard

CHAPTER 63- Happiness and Holmgard

* * *

. .

In a little valley to the north of Arendelle's castle town, where trolls were rumoured to roam about, the sun was starting to rise over a tent woven from forest greenery- pine needles and sweet grasses and soft lichens, which had been pitched in the shade of a large oak tree. Hundreds of lights, crafted from luminous crystal, hung about the roof and the doorway, glittering in a dozen rainbow shades against the mellow greens of leaf and moss.

This was about the time when trolls were going back to sleep, so none could hear what was being said between the tent's two inhabitants. Which was for the best, all things considered.

"Our tutor taught us when we were little. I remember, it was funny- Elsa liked the lesson because science, science, science. I liked the lesson because it was cool and gross. I was that kind of kid. But yeah, when a caterpillar goes into the cocoon, he's going to turn into a butterfly, but first he melts."

"That... _is_ pretty gross..."

"Let me finish, _husband_." Anna crossed her arms. "Right. But _that's_ what tonight was like. Being with you. _With you_ with you. I felt like _I_ was melting, dissolving away in my own little Kristoff cocoon. My brain was turning into a puddle, and all I could do was flail and spasm."

Looking unconvinced, Kristoff touched his black eye again. He _really_ didn't need to keep drawing attention to it.

Maybe this analogy wasn't the best after all. And it had been so great in her head... Anna reached up on tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. "It was like the whole world shrank down to just the two of us."

That came out _much_ better. Kristoff smiled his big, sweet, wonderful dumb smile. "That's how I _always_ feel when I'm with you. Like there's no one else in the universe but you, and me-"

A long, hairy snout pushed its way in through the tent flap, bumping into Kristoff's back.

"Oof! You, me and Sven, _apparently_..."

Anna giggled. "Patience, Sven- I'm not quite done with him yet."

Unfortunately, Sven seemed happy to hear Anna's voice; the trolls who built the shelter hadn't counted on a large reindeer trying to force his way in to say hello.

"No Sven!"

"Sven, your antlers! They're caught in the-"

"Look out! He broke the-"

With a sound like snapping celery, the tent collapsed on all three of them. After a few seconds Anna, Kristoff and Sven shook themselves free of the wreckage and stood, blinking in the light.

Still in her underwear, Anna threw her arms up in mock defeat, but could not stop laughing.

"Well, I guess it's time to get up," Kristoff said. Anna instead rolled back, giggling, onto the remains of their honeymoon tent and started waving her arms back and forth in the mossy, ferny shreds.

Kristoff sighed, shivering slightly in his long johns. "Are you making a debris angel _again_?"

"Ow! Splinters..." Anna pulled herself to her feet, picking twigs out of her arms. "Easier with a coat..."

Her husband laughed. "You're sure in a good mood today."

"Of course I am," Anna purred, slipping in close to her iceman and pressing her hands against the muscles of his bare chest, golden hairs tangling between her fingers, grateful that a lifetime swinging an ice pick had such _wonderful_ fringe benefits. Sven looked uncomfortable, and tried to cover his eyes with a hoof. "I woke up with _you_ , didn't I?"

After they had rummaged through the detritus for their clothes, they wandered along the lamplit path the trolls had thoughtfully prepared which led to the main clearing, where they gazed around the valley at the remnants of the night before. It had been quite a party. Most of the trolls had gone to sleep where they were, dotting the landscape like so many mossy boulders. Empty bark tankards and wooden plates still bearing the odd lichen roll or acorn burger lay here and there, forgotten.

"We went to _two_ wedding receptions," Kristoff thought aloud, scratching his blond head as his new wife skipped around. "How are you still so full of beans?"

"Drunk on love..." Anna intoned, grinning from ear to ear, in what was _nearly_ song.

The iceman exchanged a look with his reindeer. "Drunk on troll mead, more like. That stuff takes a while to wear off."

"Oh, you're just... um... ooh, shiny..."

As if on cue, Anna keeled forward onto her face. Kristoff caught her.

"O _kay_ , I guess it wore off." He looked at Sven, then at Anna, then back at Sven. "Right, here's the deal: If we _both_ eat the spare lichen rolls off the floor before she wakes back up, no one will know, and we can just both agree not to judge each other."

Sven considered carefully for a few moments, langorously licked his lips, then nodded.

. .

* * *

. .

 _They are out on the balcony, and the night sky is on fire, dancing ribbons of green and purple light ablaze over the mountains, reflecting in Mara's eyes. Soft lips press against hers._

 _What is she doing?_

 _Panic. Power flares. Mara falls..._

. .

Elsa shivered. Sitting by her bed, wrapped in her dressing gown, she watched the cool morning sun stream through the window. The golden-orange yolk colours of dawn had dissolved, and the light passing through the glass panes now marked a dozen clear, crisp diamonds of bright daytime on the dark wool of her carpet.

Anna would be back some time, from... whatever exactly was going on up in that valley. She needed Anna. The war council was finally imminent now the last major players were arriving, and she had yet to officially welcome the Myrtlemen to the kingdom- her people deserved the reassurance of a public handshake.

And... she just needed Anna.

She sat, having once again woken shaken, listening to her heart beating in her ears. Just... trying to put things together before she lost them again.

There was a woman, she was sure of that now. And she dreamed her time, and time again. And it was never a good dream. Although she had so few of those...

But this figure... a fantasy? An embodiment of some lost part of herself? A childhood memory confused and overwritten so long that the original thread was lost in mystery? Who knew? She had to try to remember. Not force the horrors from her mind when waking as she always did. She had to face them, process... _understand_. For _once_ , understand herself.

If these dreams were merely fear realised, why not hordes of murderous Myrtlemen? Why not venomous asps slipped into her bed by insidious Southern Isles assassins? Why always did it come back to this?

Rising, she walked to the balcony doors and stepped out into the light. The balcony was aligned south, so in reasonable weather she could see both dawn and dusk from her room. Absent-mindedly, she noted again that the curtains had been left drawn in her weeks of absence, and the dye had faded. A low-priority issue, right now...

A sound.

A musical strain tugged at the edge of her perception, and she listened for a moment.

 _She is singing._

Elsa leaned against the wooden balustrade and focused; she could not make out the words of Janna's song- or if she was even singing in a language Elsa knew- but a cheerful folk melody drifted up from the balcony below.

It was not exactly a serenade. Aside from the time of day, Janna probably didn't know she was listening in. For a moment she considered calling down to her suitor, and asking her to sing louder, but self-consciousness got the better of her. Instead, she simply stayed there, admiring the morning sun, as the sound of that clear, wonderful voice rose up around her like a fragrance.

The song rose and dipped, sped and slowed like the chatter of the morning birds. She found herself starting to hum along once or twice, but tried to refrain- sure she would be overheard by her suitor's sharp ears.

Yes, it was not exactly a serenade, but she felt parts within her, still cold from the shock of her dream, warm and soften as she listened.

There was much to do. But she could stay here a little longer.

Or perhaps not. There was a bump and a crash below her, and the singing stopped abruptly.

" _Kyrpä!_ Tiny bastards!"

 _Huh_ , Elsa thought. _The snowgies have found her._

. .

* * *

. .

Elsa had been right in all but one detail. The 'her' part.

Jani had turned up at breakfast, changed again, and barely had a bite to eat or a cup of tea before striding off off somewhere to deal with Myrtle business. It was good, she supposed- while nonetheless fidgeting with her plait like a child- that he was taking his responsibilities as leader to these reformed raiders seriously. And it was good, she _supposed_ , that he no longer found his changes an issue enough to talk through with her.

Still, maybe she could catch him later and... reacclimatise.

And now here _she_ was, on the docks, this fine summer day, offering greetings and farewells. The farewells were pretty much over now- several nobles had come for the wedding but had no truck with any talk of military cooperation, and she had politely wished them well as they set sail. Now for greetings. Here she was. Here she was, staring at the gangplank of a barbarian warship, about to meet a savage warlord she was hoping to convince to fight with her. At least Rapunzel was here too. Surprisingly, she claimed to know him.

Elsa had never been to Holmgard. Much as, until recently, she had never been to Myrtle. But, as with Myrtle, she had heard a _lot_ of stories.

The King of Holmgard had apparently recently risen to power in one of their incessant civil wars. Or _was_ it civil war when no one actually ever stopped fighting? Surely it was just everyday life. The general view was that Holmgard folk made Myrtlemen look civilised, but Janna insisted that this was selling Myrtle short.

There was some fairly organisational-type shouting up on deck, and a half dozen _very_ large men in horned helmets trudged their way noisily down the plank, barbarian plaits and knotted beards swaying like fox tails with each furry-booted step. The way they lined up in two groups either side of the gangway said 'bodyguard' to her mind, even if they didn't really stand to attention so much as... _loom_ , menacingly. One, a paunchy man with _only_ a big black moustache, had a large hook in place of one hand, which he was casually scraping a whetstone across.

That was when King himself emerged, and made everyone else look positively tiny. The gangplank creaked and groaned under his weight, as if it were about to give way. But it didn't, and so she found herself looking up at, well...

If Elsa absolutely _had_ to describe King Vladimir of Holmgard to a stranger, it would go something like this: Imagine the biggest bull you ever saw. Shave it. Squeeze it into a furry tunic. Train it to balance on its hind legs and glower...

It would be inaccurate to say he merely loomed. His bodyguard _loomed_. Vladimir literally _overshadowed_ the small welcome party waiting for him on the quay. His helmet horns were bigger than Elsa's _arms_.

"You made it!" Rapunzel leaped on the muscular hillock, wrapping her arms around his waist- or at least as far as they reached- in an enthusiastic hug. He looked down, smiled briefly, and gave the princess a gentle pat on the head.

Elsa cleared her throat. "I would like to-"

"This is Elsa!" Rapunzel pointed at her. "My cousin. She's the Queen here." Vladimir waved impassively.

Try again... "Yes, and I would like to formally-"

"Владимир, кузен!"

Oh for crying out loud...

The third voice was Jani, charging up behind her. As her suitor passed, he turned back to Elsa and winked conspiratorially.

Now here he was, greeting dignitaries. Well, Arendelle had to meet Jani sooner or later. Actually, she was to make a _very_ overdue public address tomorrow, and he was coming.

"Я Яни. Ты помнишь Иринa? Она отправилась в Миртл."

Vladimir looked puzzled, staring down at the modestly-sized crow lord. "Ее маленькая девочка?"

"Да, но сегодня я мужчина- это длинная история..."

Elsa tried to follow what words she knew. _Cousin... Irina's child... Myrtle..._

"You're related?"

Jani turned to Elsa and grinned. He was back in his leather breeches and battered coat, although he at least had a clean shirt on. And the scarf, of course...

"You should have told me he was coming!" She _had_ , actually... "Second cousins? I think? He and my mother are from the same faction of the same clan. They were on top when she married my father, then lost a couple of battles and another faction rose up. Who were deposed by _another_ faction, who were deposed by _another_. Then Vladimir came back from exile, all giant fists and horns-in-yer-face, and now his lot are on the up again."

It all sounded exhausting. Still, they were fighting against a coup and it sounded like King Vladimir had a lot of applicable experience- if he wasn't overthrown before the war council could even start.

Somewhere in her head, she was still adapting to Jani being a boy again, honestly.

Janna had said once it generally happened in sleep. Earlier that morning, on the balcony... so that had been _Jani_. _He_ had awoken, seen that _he_ had changed again. Sat on the balcony and sung to himself... trying to get his head together? Or was it even confusing for him at all?

The public address...She was to introduce Jani to the kingdom tomorrow. Jani, not Janna. She didn't know _what_ she was going to say...

"So..." Jani had probably noticed Elsa losing focus. "I'm going to take this magnificent killing machine to the roughest tavern in Arendelle and help him drink the cellar dry."

"Come with us," Vladimir bellowed to Rapunzel as he and Jani trudged towards town- or that might just have been the way he normally spoke. "Bring Ryder."

Elsa watched the odd collection of world leaders- princess, prince-come-princess-come-magical-monster, and massive barbarian- retreat towards some unnamed back alley drinking hole, followed by Vladimir's honour guard and a small collection of other Holmgard folk, and felt vaguely annoyed. She might as well not have been there. Still... there was something to be said for letting her suitor handle the diplomacy in this _particular_ case.

 _Maybe I should come. Surprise everyone._

 _I could quaff a couple of ales. Laugh at the blue jokes._

 _Show Jani and the others how cool I am._

Elsa contemplated for a moment, then laughed into her hand.

 _Oh, come on. I know who I am._

She nodded to her two guardsmen, her only remaining companions on the docks, and started back to the castle. Time for a nice cup of tea, and she might _finally_ catch up on that paperwork...

. .

* * *

. .

"The mad thing is..." Hook Hand broke off mid-sentence to neck another pint of Arendelle ale. Jani coughed indiscreetly to prompt him, provoking laughter from his taciturn kinsman Vladimir and some of the other assembled ruffians in this 'bodyguard' of his, crammed into the fittingly dingy tavern they had chosen.

Apparently they all knew Rapunzel and her husband. What kind of a past did that girl even have? Didn't Elsa say she'd been shut in a tower her whole life?

"The mad thing is," the part-time thug and full-time piano maestro continued, "Kaarlo doesn't even understand the past he wants to bring back. He's all 'Admiral this', 'General that', 'More discipline!'"

Jani nodded, scowling. Kaarlo had been a family friend of sorts before his betrayal. Conversations between his father and _Uncle Kalle_ the Admiral had been limited, however, by the latter's inability to understand anything but chains of command and shouting. In retrospect, perhaps that was what had led both Jani _and_ his father to underestimate the ambition of the usurper.

Hook Hand had apparently gone through the standard Myrtlean cycle of military service, privateering, smuggling, mercenary work and robbery several times, before finally achieving his dream of music stardom. Everyone needed a dream, after all... It wasn't certain how many reputable concert halls across the continent knew the true origins of the _Great Uncino_ , but clearly having connections had paid off heartily for him.

Now he brushed beer froth from his moustache and spat. "Niklas Seacrow had a collection of bandits. _Very well led_ bandits. _That's_ our past. Kaarlo wants to wank up a glorious military tradition, but it's bilge. Our tradition is _piracy_."

"Father thought we shouldn't be limited to our past," Jani growled. "I guess he died for that belief."

"The past stinks," Hook Hand declared. "The future is full of me enjoying fine wine and dark-eyed sopranos with a thing for bad boys." He raised his mug. "The past is in the past. Here's to letting go."

Jani raised his own mug. "Hear, bloody hear."

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

'Find a man who makes you feel like a horrifying bag of liquid insect guts.' Anna should never write poetry.


	64. Chapter 64- Enough

CHAPTER 64- Enough

* * *

. .

" _A shark bit at my better leg, and trimmed it to the thigh_

 _I washed up on the shingles, where a crow had out my eye_

 _The rats ate off six fingers, once they'd finished off my toes_

 _My_ _kyrpä wound up in a dog- I'd only one of those!"_

Jani's Myrtlemen and the small warband Vladimir had come with still seemed to be getting on well. The newcomers already knew most of the words to The Harlot and the Ring, a song you never went a day without hearing sung in Myrtle- but could go a lifetime without hearing sung _sober_.

Vladimir was finding Jani being a man confusing. He wasn't hostile to the idea, exactly. Just _literally_ finding Jani hard to understand, which he was used to. A lot of people seemed to be putting his change down to the magic, which was probably bollocks. Still, if magically becoming a man was somehow easier to stomach than just otherwise becoming a man... also, he was pretty sure the Holmgard folk thought he had a cock now. He hadn't bothered correcting them.

But maybe the oddest thing was how Vladimir seemed to take the magic-flaming-eyed-lord-of-crows bit in his stride. Maybe knowing Rapunzel helped with that...

"You didn't have to hit him," Rapunzel complained, picking a stray piece of glass out of her golden hair as she stumbled out of the tavern into daylight, followed closely by Eugene. Jani shrugged, and shuffled over to make room on the bench by the wall. After the third fight they'd all decided to get some fresh air.

"Vlad wouldn't have respected me if I hadn't been able to lay him out. Besides..." Jani's eyes flashed. "He said Elsa was... _hoity-toity_."

He paused. "It was the way he said it, I swear."

"Come on, that's _barely_ an insult," Eugene insisted. "I've been called worse than that in the last ten minutes."

"'Cause of your tiny beard?" Jani smirked. Eugene didn't retort, but did stroke his chin self-consciously. Rapunzel giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't listen to the meanie. It's an adorable beard, like a little beard baby."

 _I wish I knew if she was joking or not..._ Her husband didn't look reassured.

The princess turned back to the young crow lord. "You know, if you want to keep the two of you a secret, maybe, I dunno, don't go crazy whenever someone slightly questions Elsa's perfection?"

Jani sniffed. "No deal."

"Got it bad, huh?" Rapunzel observed.

"Are you comfortable with that?" the crow lord scratched his head. "I swear I can't make sense of Southern morality, but I thought you got fussier about sex the higher you moved up the nobility."

Rapunzel and Eugene looked at each other, seeming very amused.

"I was a jewel thief," said one.

"I grew up locked in a secret tower," said the other. "I was told outsiders had razor teeth." She held her fingers up to her mouth like fangs, laughing. It was musical, impossibly charming to listen to- clearly a family trait. But while Anna giggled maniacally and Elsa had a little chuckle as warm as brandy, Rapunzel _laughed-_ like a child, without reserve or affectation. It was the laughter of joy.

Jani snorted. "Good point. Wait, did you say thie-"

"Corona is pretty laid back anyway," Eugene quickly interrupted. "About _that_ , less so about missing jewels. Cass could tell you if she were here, most folks can't get enough of her and Red."

"Oh?"

"My best friend, Cassandra," the princess explained, brushing her hair back. Unlike her cousins she always seemed to wear it loose, and it was at an awkward length where a blonde lock kept falling in front of her left eye. "She's _kind_ of my handmaiden, and also _kind_ of my bodyguard... I _really_ wish she'd come with us, actually."

Eugene shrugged, looking more ambivalent. "She'd have come in handy when the Myrtlemen attacked, maybe. Oh, and, yeah, she's totally like you." He nodded to Jani.

"Devilishly handsome?"

"No, with..." the tiny-bearded ex-thief broke off, like he was trying to figure out an end to the sentence.

"She likes girls," Rapunzel finished for him, glancing at Jani knowingly. "Except... are you an also-girls person, or an only-girls person?"

"Those _aren't_ the words," Jani began. "But I guess it avoids gendering, so sod it, why not. I'm pretty sure we're both 'only-girls'." He winked. "Yourself?"

"I'm pretty sure it's _only-boys_ for me," Rapunzel smiled. "Right, because I think..." She paused, letting her brain catch up with her tongue. "Actually, I might not ever have thought to ask... Eugene?" Her husband looked up. "Is _Cass_ only-girls?"

His eyes bulged. "You _seriously_ think I've asked her? I don't want a sword through my face..."

Jani was liking the sound of Cassandra.

Rapunzel patted his hand. "She's been with someone for a couple of years now, and it's been so, so good for her. She's really driven and serious, and Rose is this adorable happy goober who can always bring out her softer side."

"She _does_ have more of a proper personality nowadays," Eugene mused.

Rapunzel ignored him. "So I _know_ this stuff doesn't matter. If you're _good_ for each other, if you make each other _happier_ , bring out the _best_ in each other, is what matters. Like Cass and Rose, like Eugene and I, like Kristoff and Anna..."

Jani smiled, though he wondered what kind of a good influence he could possibly be on Elsa. "You know, I really am sorry for calling you a witch the other day."

"You already apologised for that, silly."

"Yeah, but now I actually _mean_ it."

. .

* * *

. .

Afternoon was fading into evening, and Elsa's mind vaguely registered the fact as she continued to pore over the weeks of bureaucracy she had found built up on her desk, forming peaks and hillocks of procedural anarchy in half a dozen shades of official Arendelle document paper. She was single handedly keeping a small paper mill afloat... This was a literal fact, not hyperbole- the mill was in a small town she had visited to the south-west.

Not that Kristoff and Kai hadn't done their _best_ , a lot of day-to-day box ticking had been maintained. But there was _so_ much relating to-

"Ahem."

Elsa nearly spilt her tea over the quarterly export records. "Yikes! Don't startle me..."

Her suitor tried to look innocent. "I _did_ knock. You were miles away."

Jani stood to attention on the far side of her work mountains. His eyes sparkled; he seemed entertained by something. She found her concentration slipping. How did she look? Okay- _ish_... Her hair was made and still in its usual plait; she had shed the gown she had formed to greet the King in favour of something more businesslike- an icy blue version of the high-necked dresses she had tended to wear in her teens. She rarely dressed that way in company any more, but something about the style seemed to focus her mind when doing accounts. _Normally_.

She moved to one of the less demanding tasks- reordering the castle maintenance invoices, which had somehow gotten shuffled together and covered in what looked like bits of bird feather. Bizarrely this had to have happened _before_ she, Janna and the crows made it back to the city.

"How was the roistering?" Elsa asked. It was meant to be teasing but sounded more scolding out loud...

Jani snorted. "Not bad, actually. I heard the story of how Rapunzel got her hair magic back, Vladimir broke a man's collarbone, and he's basically a shoe-in to help us against Kaarlo."

Elsa smiled, but kept shuffling. "That _is_ good."

After a while, she noticed that her suitor was just _watching_ her. Glancing up, she saw a look in his eyes she was learning to recognise, and felt her cheeks flush.

"Tidying? Really?" Elsa asked.

Jani gave a happy sigh, rocking on his heels, and continued to stare rather brazenly. "I like a lot of your little foibles, actually. The neatness thing does stand out."

"Oh?" Elsa straightened up, bristling slightly. "I have 'a lot' of 'little foibles', you say?"

Her suitor only chuckled, brushing his dark tangles from his face and rolling his eyes. "There's also the prickliness. It's _adorable_."

That line probably wasn't meant to land as it did.

 _Forest scent rising from black hair._

 _I adore you, but..._

He didn't _want_ her to be perfect. He actually...

So, was it like... the chips and cracks that give an old castle character?

Elsa was _slowly_ learning to live with her own imperfections instead of torturing herself. She supposed she'd always on some level thought everyone else was the same- wishing she were better, but willing to put up with the somewhat troubled version of Elsa that she could offer. Not the best of all possible Queens, or of all possible sisters.

She had never really believed that someone would want her _as she was_.

This epiphany probably reflected some important personal growth, but at that moment she only really cared about one thing.

 _So much for getting anything else done..._

Elsa took a deep breath, and released it, sensing her icy heart vibrating with nervous energy but feeling very much in control of it for the time being. Setting her papers back down on the desk, she pointed to the elegant, high-backed chair opposite her, across the desk. "Sit down."

"Why? What is-"

" **Sit down. No questions.** "

At that, Jani immediately complied, with a giggle he probably hadn't meant to voice. Tapping the arms of the chair nervously, he looked up at her as she rounded the desk. Tutting, she placed her hands on his forearms, pinning them firmly to the armrests as she leaned forward, face hovering over face, inhaling that sweet scent...

Her rascally Myrtleman naturally reached forward for a kiss, but she drew back, still applying weight to his arms, and he discovered that, in spite of his long limbs, he could not _quite_ reach her lips with his own from that position.

"When _I_ decide. Naughty boy." The look on his face confirmed that he had quite forgotten.

"Woof..." he grumbled sheepishly, and looked down at his arms, shackled to the arms of his chair by Elsa's body weight and her deceptively strong grip. "Are you going to chain me up again or something?"

"Don't be silly. I just wanted to stop you drumming your fingers."

" _Sure_..."

Elsa paused. Looming over her dark forest monster like this did make her feel more... confident? Than she normally did? Probably not in whatever vulgar sense he was trying to imply, though. It was just that the last time they'd been in this position had ended _very_ successfully.

In any case, while he was at her mercy...

" **Don't move.** "

She'd thought about this... Her mouth lowered to Jani's right eye, faintly alight with energy he couldn't _quite_ contain in his current predicament; it flickered shut, and her lips grazed gently back and forth across the lashes, slowly closing in before they settled on the closed lid. Heat pulsed almost painfully against Elsa's flesh through the thin skin, in time with Jani's increasingly rapid heartbeat... With a hum of satisfied curiosity, she ended the kiss, and looked at her suitor again.

"Weird?"

"No, Miss. Yes. Only a little." Jani grinned. "You like giving orders. Can't say I'm shocked."

Elsa flushed, but didn't let go of Jani. "I _am_ a regnant Queen... whose eyes are _up here_. What's shocking is that _you_ like taking them. I could feel your pulse."

Jani didn't respond to that, looking distracted. Eventually he asked a question. "Do you think that's the reason you'd rather kiss than be kissed? You feel more in control?"

Honestly, Elsa had to concede the possibility. "It might be one of a _few_ factors... although that's improving, remember?"

Jani nodded. "Yes- I'm glad. I guess we're learning as we go. You know... you're unusually confident today."

Elsa replied with what she hoped was a sly smile. "I'm feeling a little boosted right now. I've had an epiphany about a subject which has been troubling me for a while."

"O-kay... Care to share?"

"Another time. Now isn't..." She looked down at Jani, wondering what she should do with him before her boldness faded and she remembered to be scared again. His scarf was wonky, but she didn't want to let go of his arms to adjust it. It was the most neurotic of dilemmas.

"Jani... how did you know?"

He frowned. "What?"

"That I was..."

Elsa steeled herself. Stubborn words finally escaped her tongue.

"That I'm gay."

She felt giddy, saying it out loud at last. But it was a good giddy, like when she'd finished a successful meeting she'd been nervous about going into. Which was almost any meeting.

Mingled delight and bafflement swirled in her Myrtleman's deep blue eyes.

"Well?"

"I didn't. Really..."

Jani shook his head. "Look... I'm masculine enough, like this, that straights take an interest. I don't encourage them, it tends not to go well when they find out." Elsa wondered what women he _had_ 'encouraged', but decided against asking.

"But I was pretty well hooked by our second meeting, and so I was looking for what signs I could of... flexibility? All your drawings are pretty queer. A couple of the poses, the amount of detail in certain places, the... _sensuality_ of certain lines. It wasn't exactly rock-solid evidence though. So I did nothing. Actually took Rinne's advice for once.

Then after... everything..." Jani broke off.

"Then it all came out... I know." _In more senses than one_.

"I've wondered a hundred times if things could have gone better. If I'd come clean..."

" _I_ kissed you. _I_ precipitated it." Elsa shook her head. "I regret so much... but I think it was always going to be difficult."

"Any idea what you're going to do?"

"No..." It was a fair question, she knew. But she couldn't give an answer yet. "I'm the Queen. I really don't know how to make-" Elsa nodded towards where her hands met Jani's arms- " _this_ work."

Jani released a dejected sigh. Then he met her eye. "What would you do if you weren't Queen?"

"Are you thinking we should leave this all behind? Run off to the hills and build ourselves a log cabin?" Elsa laughed, joylessly. "I don't know what I'd do with myself. Hard as it was at first, hard as it still _is_ , I can't imagine myself as anything other than Queen."

She pressed her lips to Jani's forehead, resting her face against his brow and mess of hair. It was a stressful subject after all, and her boy's scent was clean and soothing. Strange to say, she could almost have slept in that position, collapsing into Jani's lap and letting him catch her. She felt so tired, sometimes.

"I have my place, my purpose. And you have yours."

"And we have to work out if _this_ can fit into that," her suitor grumbled.

"I'm afraid so, my sweet."

Jani smiled, slightly. "I'm glad we're talking. It'll all go to shit if we don't talk. Still... wasn't exactly what I was counting on when you pinned me down like this."

Elsa nuzzled into Jani's hair, eliciting a purr of enjoyment. "Talking is a lot more important."

Jani was quiet for a while.

"I know that... Elsa, I don't really know how to put this. I know it's hard for you. This stuff. Not just with your powers, but being alone so long, and... it's just hard for some people."

Elsa pulled back. "Oh...?"

"Thing is..." He looked embarrassed, his softly glowing gaze darting about. "If _this_ is the most you can ever do, that's okay."

"What?"

"You know... kissing, holding, sometimes climbing astride me in some fashion. You know I want... no, that's not... _I want you_." His ears had gone pink. " _So_ much. I mean, you know where my eyes go when you move about."

Elsa rolled her eyes dramatically- and hoped Jani wouldn't notice her hands starting to tremble. "You _really_ aren't subtle."

"But still. I'd never want you to feel you should do more than you're comfortable with. Even if that means no more and never."

"Don't you..." The Queen blinked several times. "If I didn't... _feel_ for you, why would I have let this get so far?"

"I've made a mess of this," Jani sighed. "It's more like, there's no inevitable progression to full-blown sex. Yes, yes, the dreaded 'propriety', but my point is... I _know_ you want me for kisses. Warm hugs. Real talk. But whatever else you want or don't, that's... _enough_. Or if it takes you ten years to want to do more, then that's how long it takes, and that's also enough for me- because _you're_ enough, Elsa. If a relationship with you never involves more than you and me, here, like this, I'd still want it more than anything any other woman could ever offer me."

At that point Elsa _finally_ understood his rambling, and her heart warmed. He was so very sweet, under the magic pirate baggage. She kissed him again. "I _see_... As long, and as far as I want?"

"You remember."

"I forget very little of what you say to me, sweetie. And thank you, really. But..." Her mouth dropped to his ear. "Propriety notwithstanding, remember, I _am_ improving..." It was about as suggestive as she could bring herself to be. It had the desired effect nonetheless, as she heard his breath catch. She gave the ear a slight nibble.

" _Mmm..._ You are _definitely_ getting bolder. There was a shorter way I could have said all that, wasn't there?"

"It's always the way with us," Elsa laughed. "I think 'You're enough, Elsa' might have been the operative clause. And-" She stole another quick kiss from those soft lips- "One of the nicest things you've ever said. Or maybe anyone."

She smiled, contemplating her weird and wonderful suitor. Maybe the lap wouldn't be so bad... It wasn't _really_ indecent, people sat in people's laps all the time. And Jani was so _warm,_ like a hot bath you could just gently... sink into...

There was a knock on the door. Elsa sprang backwards, knocked against the desk, and sent papers flying.

Jani swung out of the chair and onto his feet, snickering at her loss of composure, and went to answer the door.

A young servant slipped shyly into the office, wearing the apron of a seamstress. She seemed staggered when she saw Jani. "Oh, my um, my..."

Eventually she turned to Elsa herself. "Your Majesty, I was sent to confirm Princess' Janna's measurements before the fitting. Gerda said to come here, and..."

Still gathering scattered paperwork from off the carpet, the Queen looked up and smiled evenly. "That should be fine, if-" Elsa looked at her suitor questioningly- " _Prince Jani_ has no objection."

"Fitting? Measurements?" A kind of twitchy suspicion crept over Jani's features, like a child who hears the word 'dentist' pronounced somewhere in the house.

"I'll be making a royal announcement and officially introducing you and your Myrtlemen to the kingdom," Elsa explained. "You'll need your own clothes."

Jani grumbled.

"And _no_ grumbling."

She was going to enjoy this far more than he was.

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Cassandrose= Cassandra+Rose, Rose being an OC lovingly designed by the superbly gifted artist and designer Brianna Kenney. Find her creations on Tumblr at **briannathestrange** , or on her website, www dot artofbriannakenney dot com. I don't normally incorporate other people's fic, heck it's been 64 chapters and this is a first, but I just love the pairing. Cassandrose for life.

I'm on Tumblr myself now, at **oldsamshouseoffic**. Still learning the ropes, but I'm finding so many people who properly appreciate Kristanna.


	65. Chapter 65- Spiritual Counsel

CHAPTER 65- Spiritual Counsel

* * *

. .

"And introducing Jani and the Myrtlemen to the kingdom is _very_ important," Elsa explained. "So it's vital that everything goes smoothly at the royal announcement this afternoon."

A slightly deflated Olaf lowered his head; Elsa patted it apologetically. "I'm sorry I've been so _busy_ this last couple of days. There's been so much to plan. And also... people who want to kill us all... We'll head up to see Marshmallow again soon, I promise."

"Do you really think this will make that much of a difference?" Jani asked, picking at his breakfast. She felt bad for thinking it, but Elsa had slightly hoped that he might have changed back overnight. It was just easier not to have to introduce a magical pirate princess as a royal guest _and_ explain her abrupt gender shifts on the same day.

 _Hello, subjects. These are the Myrtlemen- those pirates who just tried to kill you. They're our guests now. This is their leader, Princess Janna- only for the moment she's Prince Jani, I hope that's not confusing. And we're seeing each other, because I'm gay, you see._

Wouldn't _that_ get a reaction... "I don't know," she admitted, fidgeting with her hands as much as she tried not to. "I just want people to trust you a little more."

Her suitor rolled his blue-black eyes. " _I_ don't trust Myrtleans, and I'm _the_ Myrtlean."

" _No_ , Jani." Elsa shook her head, feeling the need to insist on this one point. "You've _proven_ yourself. Your men have a commander to vouch for them who deserves the trust of every person in Arendelle. I just... it would be easier if they got to know you."

"Of course! Getting to _know_ you!"

Elsa spun around in time to see Olaf charging out of the dining room, his empty chair spinning, and a manic grin on his face. Dread sank into her bones.

"What the hell was that?"

The Queen groaned. "I have a horrible suspicion he's setting off on some kind of adventure. I've stopped asking too many questions- he always comes back, and the property damage is normally minor. One time at Christmas he _did_ get himself lost in the woods..."

Through the open window came a loud series of crashes, accompanied by screams of alarm and the panicked bellowing of animals.

Elsa and Jani looked at each other.

"He doesn't normally work _that_ fast..."

. .

It wasn't Olaf.

When the Queen and her breakfast companion rushed out into the softly pattering morning rain, they found a trail of destruction leading from the open gate to the stables, a section of which had been demolished by the impact of a laden sled and a large reindeer. A panicked mare was cantering around the courtyard, being chased by a stable-hand who was doing his best to calm her down. Amid the wreckage of a stall Sven rose unsteadily to his feet, looked plaintively at the approaching humans, and collapsed again.

A broken lantern had fallen into the straw and caused a small fire. Elsa quickly froze it- although the spitting rainfall was already making everything damp.

"Okay... little help?" Hearing a familiar voice from behind the upended body of the sled, Elsa clambered between cracked timbers and pulled a very messy Anna free from the wreckage. Miraculously she seemed to be unhurt, although Elsa didn't know-

"Kristoff!" Jani shouted, and rushed past to help Elsa's battered brother-in-law to his feet, checking him over for injuries. "Are you okay?"

When did _they_ get close?

Kristoff cricked his neck and grumbled a lot, but seemed to be basically whole. Most of his bruises came down to his skidding into the wall and having a number of saddles fall on his head.

"What did I _tell_ you about letting Anna drive?" Elsa gently reprimanded him.

"She just kept bugging me about it," Kristoff admitted. "I should have learned my lesson after last time."

"Last time wasn't my fault!" protested Anna. "And..." She paused, surveying the destruction. "I'm _really_ sorry about your sled. How many is this now?"

Her husband shrugged wearily, offering a carrot to an exhausted looking Sven. He wrapped his arms around Anna and gave her a conciliatory squeeze. "I'm learning not to get too attached to them."

Elsa found herself wondering what exactly the two nights' honeymoon among the trolls had been like, but wasn't sure if it was even possible to phrase the question in a way that Jani would not choose to interpret as crude. _Hello, subjects. This is the leader of the killer pirates. He swears and makes dirty jokes. He's my suitor now. I'm gay, you see... A bit of a shock for everyone involved..._

She didn't have time to ask in the end, as a noisy brown blur came roaring into the courtyard towards the happy couple.

"My _bear!_ "

"Your bear? How is it out?"

" _Voi luoja!_ "

"Floofsicle! Come to Mamma!"

In spite of her delighted cooing, the little cub ignored Anna and jumped onto a surprised Kristoff, bowling him off his feet, then started tearing into his tunic.

"The rolls! He's after the lichen rolls!"

Apologetic kennel workers stumbled up to join the small crowd watching a small bear try to eat its way through the ice master's clothes, until he managed to pull out a package wrapped in leaves. The bear dove at the parcel and ripped it open, flinging small, pale green pastries all over the already debris-littered courtyard. Rolling off the fallen newlywed, it pounced on the nearest treat and wolfed it down like candy.

"Wow," commented Anna, managing not to look offended at being slighted for baked goods. "I guess he _really_ likes troll food."

Elsa opened her mouth, then thought better and closed it. Better if the idea came from Anna herself.

"Hmm..." The red-head considered, watching her fluffy charge inhale another lichen roll.

"Yes, Anna?"

"You don't think..."

After some more prevarication, and picking Kristoff up off the floor for a second time, _and_ the news that the cub had apparently broken the door of his kennel and nipped his handler on the behind, it was decided that they could _maybe_ let a brown bear _try_ living in the woods, as they were designed to.

At least that was _one_ thing less to worry about...

. .

* * *

. .

"It was a lovely service," said the Queen, watching the last of the pews empty. The servants had efficiently slipped away as soon as the Bishop had finished speaking, avoiding the visiting nobility who, having colonised the front rows, were now completing their more ponderous exit, bedecked with silks and gemstones. Momentarily, she found herself understanding the Myrtleans' attitude.

"Thank you, your Majesty," the Bishop replied. "The happy couple were an unexpected addition- I suppose therein lies a tale."

"They made _very_ good time by sleigh," Elsa explained, although the tears in their clothing and straw in their hair remained a mystery to Halsing's mind. But perhaps he shouldn't enquire _too_ deeply into the habits of newly-weds...

"It is actually the first time I've _seen_ Kristoff at a regular service," he continued, deciding to redirect the conversation a little.

"I'm not sure the trolls place great importance on church attendance," Queen Elsa noted dryly.

She stood there, for a while, by the altar, silently contemplating the glass in the windows. Bishop had extensive experience in reading Elsa's moods, and sensed that something was troubling his sovereign.

"Your Majesty..."

Elsa smiled uncomfortably. "Yes?"

"Your journey through the mountains- the obstacles and dangers you faced. The things you must have seen. If there's anything you wish to speak about, anything which it would help you to express, you know that I am here."

She stepped back as if startled, anxiously clutching her hands. "Anything _I_ need to express? What do you- I mean..."

"I'm sorry, that was unclear," Halsing reassured her, remembering that she had been forced into battle at least once, and how that often haunted people. "I am not suggesting some sort of Roman confession. Whatever... decisions you may have had to make were surely for the common good. I only mean that the pain of difficult experiences can linger in the heart, and it can sometimes help to air them, to a friendly ear."

"Thank you," she sighed, seeming to relax. "There _are_ so many things I want to talk about, ask about. Eventually..."

Elsa brushed her hand across the cover of the Bible sitting on the Bishop's lectern, her fingers gracefully tracing the fine patterns embossed into the aged leather. "Trolls. My sister married into a clan of _trolls_. Then we have this magic I've carried all my life. The magic J- _Prince Jani_ carries, too. The creatures, the _forces_ I witnessed in those mountains, and in those forests."

Bishop Halsing nodded. "God moves in mysterious ways, so the saying goes."

"But..." The Queen looked down at the Bishop's Bible and frowned. "There's not one verse in here on trolls, or cursed forests, or shadows that hunt, or even..."

She took a breath. "Sorry. What I mean is, so much of my life has seemed different from the story we were told. What do we do where we encounter things that seem... outside of the plan? Questions for which this book seems to have no answer?"

"Queen Elsa," Halsing replied, aghast, " _Nothing_ is outside God's plan, and least of all _you,_ His beloved and accepted child."

"I..." She faltered. "I know. Thank you."

"Where we _seem_ to have knowledge, it will pass away." He removed his mitre and placed it on the altar, smoothing down his thinning grey hair. "For we know _in_ _part_. We preach _in part_. When completion comes, the incomplete will pass away." Rather a paraphrase of 1st Corinthians, but he suspected the Lord would be forgiving.

He turned back to his Queen, and prayed silently for the words to remove the worry he saw in those wide eyes. "Your Majesty, life is strange and _complex_. Complex enough to fill a _hundred_ Holy Testaments, and we only have these two. They are inspirations, not instruction manuals. Do not return to seeking out rules for fear's sake. When we walk through unknown territory, then we have _faith_ , and listen to our hearts. For within us, His Spirit is _never_ silent."

Elsa thought about this. "Just... listen to my heart?"

"Listen, wait, and trust that there is a plan."

Again, the Queen stood silently for a while.

"I hope so... I really do."

"Hope matters." Halsing smiled, as the Queen made her way to the exit. "Faith, hope, and above all love are _all_ that ultimately matter, long after power and knowledge fail. Sometimes we are tested- but so that we can grow. Mature. Evolve. If your heart is true, it will steer you right."

Elsa paused by the door. "And if my heart tells me two different things?"

"Then _wait_ , as I said, and listen carefully. One voice will be love, who is God. The other, fear, which is not."

The Queen nodded, and slipped away. The Bishop returned to his tidying up. His sovereign was clearly still deeply troubled; he hoped his advice was not entirely without use.

She had gone north in search of some rest and recreation; instead she had found war, and danger. Halsing knew better than many that Myrtle folk were strange, and often dangerous.

Now she had to host an army of them, and try to negotiate a military coalition, aside from her host of other duties.

Foreign royal visitors could be demanding. Although he doubted any were more troublesome than the one who had dropped by the chapel the day before...

. .

 **A day previously...**

Obeying some subconscious instinct, the Bishop looked around to see a figure he now recognised slouched in the front row.

"Your royal Highness. I didn't hear the door."

"I'm magic, Erik. Spooky magic." The Myrtlean princess smiled unkindly and rose, wearing _that same battered coat_ , as proudly as if it were robes of office, over a man's shirt, jerkin and breeches. Even a pair of short boots... only the blue scarf didn't fit.

"Do you seek prayer or spiritual counsel?"

She snorted. "Just dropping by, Erik."

"You speak as if we know each other," Erik Halsing replied, faltering as he recognised a hole in the greatcoat's worn lapel he had once poked his thumb through, playfully, years before his visitor could even have been born.

"We don't, Erik." She ran a hand through her chaotic black hair. The smile was gone, but the sense of hostility remained. _Who am I to you, child?_ "Although I've heard enough. I realised that you ought to know."

The Bishop swallowed, aware of the Princess' formidable reputation. "Know... what?"

Princess Janna glared at him, took a deep breath, and seemed to take a moment to gather herself.

"Ukko. Ukko's dead, Erik."

Erik Halsing stumbled into a seat, sensing the blood draining from his head. It somehow... wasn't actually a shock. Not exactly. But at the moment he felt at once very young and uncertain, and very old and weary, all at the same time.

"It was... you knew him. You're even _dressed_ as him," he heard himself rambling, like a man half drunk.

"What?" The Princess looked herself over. "It's just a coat, Erik. I'm not in his sodding knickers."

Halsing stared at his own trembling hands. "It was recent. Wasn't it?"

"Yeah. On the road. There was fighting." Something bitter flared in her gaze.

 _That dream..._ "It's strange. Somehow, I think I knew."

"Oh, piss off, Erik!" His visitor's eyes seemed to catch alight as she loomed over him, as if squaring up for a fight. "Don't pull that Southern soulmate _arse-bilge!_ Not now!"

The Bishop shrank back, unsure what to expect. "Princess, I only-"

"Prince! That's..." The Myrtlean stopped, fists rapidly clenching and unclenching, seeming to check their temper somewhat. "Today, it's _Prince_." It was then that Erik first noticed the visitor's lack of... bust... compared to when he had encountered them beside the bell. At this point he was entirely confused.

The Princess- or Prince, maybe?- adjusted their coat and gave him a final glare.

"You didn't know. Now you do. Good day, Erik."

. .

And with that they had skulked away, leaving Bishop Halsing staring at the door and wondering who and what exactly his visitor actually was, and what precisely he was supposed to have done to earn their ire.

 _Prince?_

Could magic do that? The notion made his head spin.

 _The same foul mouth as him..._

 _Ukko knew royalty?_

 _She- he?- they knew. Knew about us._

 _Ukko... God rest you._

 _However your life turned out, after... I do hope it was happy._

 _. ._

* * *

. .

"Jani!" Elsa blurted in mock alarm, when her suitor ran up behind her and tapped her shoulder childishly. It was the kind of thing Anna would do.

She was back in the castle, in a lesser corridor lined with paintings of minor family members from the distant past. After looking both ways to confirm that the only eyes observing them were of oil paint, she moved in close to plant a small kiss on her suitor's cheek, revelling as always in the glorious softness of it. And... _smoothness_... did Jani shave? Why? And could he ever find an aftershave that smelled better than _he_ did- like smoky air, like wildflowers blossoming on forest floors?

"If you'd come to services, the other princes might have seen you as more respectable," she gently nagged him, picking at a hole in his scruffy coat.

"Which princes?" Jani retorted, still grinning from the kiss. "Vlad's lot won't set foot in a church except to loot it. Kernev and Bordignon brought their own priest- _très exclusif_ , _nos invités royaux_. And, of course, Corona sent their princess, who honestly is probably the closest to God of any of us- but might need the concept of organised religion carefully explained to her with pictures."

"Okay." Elsa shrugged in defeat. "Forget I brought it up."

"While _I_ occasionally wake up mumbling lines from the _Breviarium._ I don't want my successors to inherit any more denominations, thanks."

"The monk you told that story about?"

"Shit, you think?" His voice took on a low monotone. " _Benedictus Dominus, fortis meus, qui docet manus meas ad proelium, digitos meos ad bellum..._ "

" _Aren't_ we macabre? I get the idea." Elsa hadn't thought much about how there would be crow lords _after_ Jani, as there had been greyfriars and pirate kings before him. Knowing some measure of what he learned. Trying to define _themselves_ amid all that knowledge. It was a kind of legacy, she supposed. If children weren't...

No. It was _no_ time to think about that.

 _Hello subjects. You all expect me to make babies. You know you do. I stare at lists of noble bachelors, and I can almost physically feel the weight of your expectations. But I'm gay, you see. Hope you don't mind. I do have a handsome suitor, but he is unlikely to... No, please don't go..._

 _Listen to my heart, the Bishop said. If he only knew..._

"Hey, Elsa?"

"What?" She'd lost focus. Elsa tried to remember what they had originally been talking about.

"Smoke..." A stimulus she'd half-registered earlier, now it popped back into her head. "When you ran up, you smelled of woodsmoke." She looked at her suitor with concern. "Were you angry at someone?"

"Ah."

His hesitation didn't ease her worries. "Was it me?"

" _No..._ " He chuckled. "I promise I'd tell you. It was nothing. Had to deal with a few of my men, no big deal."

"Are you sure everything's fine?"

"Of course."

"Jani..."

She gave him a look that made it clear she wasn't buying it.

"Okay," her suitor growled. "I've just been in a bad mood today. Not even sure exactly why."

"I've been stressed since the wedding," Elsa admitted. "There's too much to do."

She raised her hand and started to tease those dark tangles through her fingers. Like a tetchy housecat Jani fidgeted, but didn't stop her. "Maybe it's this announcement..."

"I guess..." The crow lord sighed as Elsa continued her ministrations. "I know Myrtle doesn't have the greatest reputation. It'll be me and my band of turncoats, and all the lords and ladies of the south sniffing at us."

"It won't-" Elsa wasn't sure how to reassure him when she had exactly the same worry herself. "No. I won't _let_ it be like that. And the people of the town will be there as well."

"I've had to deal with five fights already between my crews and 'people of the town'."

"Anything major?"

"Little stuff. Setting up a toilet for the crows. The crews thrashing people who throw things at the crows. Two cases of drunken assault- the scallies lost shore leave privileges."

"Have you met with the captain of the guard?"

"Kai got us together the first day, while you were resting. We have an agreement and a system, I just wish things were a bit smoother."

Elsa smiled, although she resolved to discreetly check whether any major altercations had occurred. Kai would know. "Well, you can't do any more now, so let's focus on the task in front of us. It's time for your fitting."

 _"Another one?"_

She wasn't sure whether it was sympathy, sadism, or somehow both- but oh, Elsa would _never_ tire of that dog-being-led-to-the-bath look in Jani's dark eyes.

"It won't be that bad."

He looked dubious. "I _do_ appreciate the clothes. Thanks... It's all the poking and prodding beforehand."

She smiled, some vestige of yesterday's post-paperwork boldness returning. "What if _I_ helped with the measuring tape?"

Jani's cheeks went a little pink.

"That... might be more fun."

"Fun?" Elsa raised her eyebrows as she led Jani away. "I will be _wholly_ professional."

"Sure, and I'm the Emperor's ghost."

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Regarding the Bishop, I was pondering how a churchman would actually _cope_ with living in a world self-evidently filled with witches and fairies and magic curses. I mean- there's clearly Protestantism in Arendelle. But there are also trolls from Norse paganism, just hanging around, which doesn't seem to confuse anyone. It seemed more interesting than dodging the issue.

Although there _are_ actually witches and ghosts in the Bible. In an OT account the witch of Endor summons the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel, who immediately complains about being woken up- as anyone would. "לָמָּה הִרְגַּזְתַּנִי"- "Why are you bothering me?"

Jani's quote from the Latin Psalter translates as _'Blessed be the Lord my strength, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.'_ Of all the crow lords, one would expect the Monk to be especially conflicted about his abilities.


	66. Chapter 66- Anna Time

CHAPTER 66- Anna Time

* * *

. .

"Oh, these are most darling, yah?" Oaken trilled, holding up pairs of knitted socks to compare their bright patterns. "Our customers will love these little toe warmers."

Mrs Olsen nodded proudly, sharing a glance with Mr Olsen. "Practice makes perfect, we always say."

Oaken blushed, and moved behind his counter, pulling out a couple of coin bags. "Same price as last time?"

There was a knock on the door. Oaken coughed politely. "Torkel? Would you be so kind?"

"Yes, husband!" Torkel, who had been quietly reading, bounced to his feet and answered the door, the little customer bell ringing merrily as it connected with the frame.

"Hello customers, we are closed today for Sunday and the- oh, hi Olaf..." The snowman marched straight in anyway, leaving Torkel to scratch his blond head and look over at Oaken questioningly.

The big man waved politely. "Yoo-hoo, little magic snowman friend who charmingly does not have boundaries. Why are you making this visit?"

. .

* * *

. .

Warm summer rain pitter-pattered against Anna's window. So soothing when you _weren't_ out in it. It had to clear up soon, though...

"Oh, you were _right_..." Elsa purred, sounding far fuller and happier than thirty minutes ago. "But what about the crumbs?"

" _Elsa_ ," Anna complained, gently jabbing her sister in the ear with a stockinged foot. They lay on their backs on top of Anna's old bed, in roughly top and tail positions. The plan had been to look through Anna's things to see what else she wanted to bring into her new- cue giggling and blushes- _shared_ bedroom. But they had spent a lot of the time talking about nothing in particular, and once Anna found out that, in all her years taking dinner in her room, Elsa had _never_ eaten a meal in bed...

 _How is that even possible? She never even makes any mess!_

The cake had not been hard to arrange- there was a surprising amount left over from the wedding, given how many extra guests they'd had to invite. Royals could be so standoffish... Now rich, fudgy chocolate was filling Anna's belly with a warm, sweet comforting haze of unhealthiness, while also coating her hands, her face, her bodice...

She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at her sister. _Who has, what? A couple of smudges on the corners of her mouth?_

"Crumbs?! You don't _make_ crumbs!" Anna blurted, laughing at a characteristic of Elsa's she had found infuriating when they were growing up. She didn't seem to drop crumbs, she never got grass in her hair, her feet didn't get stinky... Anna was currently lying amid a sweet confectionery disaster zone, happily grubby as a pig in mud, and she had no idea how Her Royallest Most Perfect Majesty did it.

"I'm not likely to use these sheets in the new room," she explained. "So we can pretty much wreck 'em." To illustrate, she sat up, picked up her own empty _-ish_ but very sticky plate, and dumped it face down on the pink sheets.

" _Anna._ " Elsa looked shocked. "These are serviceable sheets."

The chocolate had always washed out before. Anna shrugged. "Elsa, they're _old,_ and don't match anything in our new room. If one of us has a daughter, we can probably scrape together the ten silver for a pink counterpane. Even _Sven_ could, weirdly- do you think that..."

Elsa had gone kind of green. As usual when this happened, Anna reviewed all the words that had come out of her mouth in the last minute. "Oh, right..." She tapped a finger on the back of her upturned plate, awkwardly. "Hey, there's... adoption?"

"We haven't discussed it." Elsa lay back, eyes fixed firmly on the ceiling. No, above that, like she was looking up through the castle into the sky. Could she _feel_ the rainclouds? Was that intuitive sense of the wind and weather she'd tried a few times to explain to Anna, hopelessly and normally after an akvavit or two, running 24/7, or just when she was doing the magic?

Anna shuffled over, wanting to be nearer to Elsa's head than her toes if they were going to talk seriously. "You haven't discussed it? You sort of should- you're supposed to be 'courting'. I'm not dumb, I know what that means."

Elsa turned her head to look up at Anna, with chilly irritation glinting bright and brittle in those big blue eyes. "Did you discuss children when you'd been with Kristoff for a month? And it might not be an easy conversation."

"Elsa, _you love her._ "

Her sister's eyes bulged hilariously as she jumped up in shock. "Anna, no! I-" She started to choke, and had to get up to fetch a glass of the lemonade the staff had kindly brought up with the cake.

After a few gulps of bittersweet fizz she sat back down on the edge of the bed, cradling her cup in her hands, sky-blue eyes wide and watering.

" _Him_ ," she corrected. "He changed again while you were away."

As if she could keep track of that. From her crouched position on the mattress, Anna swung her legs over the side of the bed so that they were sitting side by side. "Aha! So you don't _deny_ it..."

Elsa's ivory-blonde plait had swung loose; Anna rearranged it over her shoulder, the way she knew she normally liked it. For such a conservative sort of person, her sister sure seemed to go for some bold fashion statements.

"We..." Elsa shivered, even though she couldn't possibly be cold. "We haven't discussed that either."

Anna shivered herself, and realised that _she_ really _was_ cold. Her breath was misting. "Elsa, could you turn up the temperature a little?"

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Her sister closed her eyes to focus, and the bedroom returned to _nearly_ as warm as a castle room should be at the peak of a northern summer, even a drizzly day like this one.

"You do _talk_ , though? I dunno, it just seems like there's a whole lot you 'haven't discussed'..."

"We will." It was a flat statement. "We talk a lot, we really do. About all sorts of things. Things I don't think either of us have told anyone else..." Elsa blushed. It was one of the sweetest things Anna had ever seen. "I just... I don't like moving fast. I can barely process what I'm feeling as it is. What we have-" She thought hard. "It has to grow, mature- _evolve_ , at its own pace."

"Don't you mean _your_ pace?" Anna asked. "I think Janna- _sorry, Jani_ \- knows what _he_ wants already."

 _You love him. He loves you. The Queen can do whatever she likes, right? Are you really more afraid of a scandal than you are of pretending for the rest of your life?_

Once again, the Queen prickled a little. Draining the rest of her glass, Elsa huffed in irritation. "Jani _respects_ me enough not to want to rush me, which is actually one of the reasons I-" Elsa hesitated- " _care_ about him so much."

"That's good..." Anna decided not to push any harder, instead steering the conversation onto a parallel lane. "Kristoff has always taken me seriously. What I say, what I decide, it all matters to him. He's never treated me like a kid, even when he's teasing me."

"You don't talk about this all that much," Elsa commented, smiling warmly. "Even the night before the wedding."

"That's because Rapunzel started interrogating _you_ about Janna," Anna pointed out. "Hang on... do I still say _Jani_ if it's in the past when she was... he was..."

She rubbed her forehead. Her brain was going to pop with all of this. "Whatever. But I love Kristoff so _much_. I feel like I could just go on and on, only... when I actually try it's hard to find the words. He's kind of _solid_ , you know? He's _real_."

"Genuine?" Elsa suggested.

" _Yeah_." Anna liked that. "No front, no agenda, no pretending to be anything else. He's the honest goods. I know, everyone makes mistakes- and we both screw up plenty. But his heart is _always_ one hundred per cent in the right place, and it always will be. And he's actually pretty smart."

She looked at Elsa, not sensing agreement. "What? He _is._ "

Elsa looked down at her empty cup, her expression very _diplomatic_. "I said nothing."

"Look, he didn't have _tutors_ growing up all trollish," Anna explained. "But he's good at figuring things out. Gauging distances, the different equipment he'll need for different jobs- the practical stuff. The _solid_ stuff." She smiled to herself. "And he always knows exactly what I need."

Her cheeks flushed as she thought back to the previous two nights. "I didn't mean like... although... actually, um..." Anna broke off, suddenly flustered.

"Your face is quite the picture. Things... went well, up in the valley, I take it?" Elsa asked, her own cheeks colouring a little.

"Oh, _amazingly_ ," Anna groaned, sweet reveries of Kristoff flooding her chocolate-fueled brain, intense and oh-so fresh. Of her fingers clutching at blond hair in desperate handfuls, of strong, calloused hands running up and down... _ooh..._ "But, um, I should probably spare you the details."

" _Thanks_ for that," her sister replied, sounding very, very relieved.

. .

* * *

. .

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

A few more taps to shape the head, and Sara plunged the nail header into the bucket, making the water hiss like a... snake? She didn't go in much for poetry. She tapped the header on the anvil, and out slipped a freshly forged carpentry nail, tumbling into a growing pile.

The rain on the roof still hummed- a steady, mellow rumble. She picked up the remainder of the rod, ready to forge yet another one, and contemplated the amount of hard labour she had put in the day before, just cutting solid iron into even lengths like... potato fries? Yes, that worked.

It was a changing practice, nailing. Slitting mills could use water power to chop rods ready for the nailer's hammer far faster than doing it all by hand. That was the modern thing, and the Queen was all for modernity. Maybe she could petition for such a mill to be built- she'd find it much easier to stay competitive, even if it meant Sara paying some miller a fee to slice her metal for her.

Still, it was only part of her repertoire. With a mill she'd have time to perfect her swordsmithing and other prestige work. People never really noticed how well you made nails, and bolts, and hinges. Still, more varied than being a coppersmith. Paunchy old Frederik's casting a new clapper for the Yule bell was the most excitement he'd had in ten years, and now it would be cauldrons and kettles for the rest of his days...

"Ow! _Ow!_ "

Sara shook herself from her iron-related pondering and noticed the living snowman hopping about by her forge, shaking his flaming hand. Seizing the bucket, she dragged it over to Olaf, pulled his arm off, and thrust it deftly into the water.

"Oh, that's better..."

"Olaf..." She pulled her heavy gloves off, dropped them on the anvil, and wiped her grimy hands on her skirts. "Time and again I've said, _don't touch_. Too much in here is hot."

"I get excited..." mumbled Olaf to himself, reattaching his damp-but-intact arm and flexing the fingers.

"You know the shop's not open today."

"I know _that_." The snowman brushed his hand through the air dismissively. "Anyway, I don't have money." He thought a bit more. "Or pockets. Or... pants. Should I wear pants?"

"That's no one's business but yours," Sara replied patiently. "So, why _are_ you here, Olaf?"

"I'm on a mission!"

"Oh?..." She had heard enough to be cautious.

"Are you going to the royal announcement today?"

"Sure, maybe." She shrugged, stroking her beard as she stared out the door into the grey drizzle. " _If_ the weather clears up. And depending on how much I get finished."

"Oh, but you _must_... Just let me tell you a story."

Olaf hopped up onto the corner of the anvil, and started to explain...

. .

* * *

. .

"Hey, Elsa?" Anna asked, as they stood over the basin, washing the remains of the cake from themselves.

"Yes?"

"What did you actually talk to Gerda about, up in the mountains?"

The Queen started, and dropped her wash-cloth in the basin, splashing water all over her skirts- where it straight away froze, formed into small crystals, and floated back into the sink.

"Useful trick. Something interesting, huh?"

"Well..." Elsa looked furtive. "I needed advice about... how things work."

Anna squinted. "'Things', as in..."

Her sister's expression moved from cagey to skittish. "Things about which one should be spared the details."

Oh? _Oh..._

"The _Talk?_ " Anna snorted, feigning confusion. "Didn't you have that, like, a decade ago?"

"Yes, but..." The princess almost felt guilty at how torturous her sister seemed to be finding this. Elsa had always been on the prudish side when it came to talking about _marital business_. Clearly it wasn't all down to her secret lack of interest in princes.

"I needed to know more about _women,_ " Elsa mumbled with a frown, giving the answer Anna had already figured out. "About _pleasing_ women. There, are you happy?"

"Yeah, actually I am." Anna squeezed her sister's arm reassuringly. "The easier you find it to talk about who you are and what you want, the better for you."

"Who I am?"

"Who you are. Whether or _not_ Janna works out."

She was expecting some push-back, but instead Elsa nodded. "I suppose I'll always be... gay... yes."

Anna grinned. _She's actually saying the word now, although it's still like passing a kidney stone. Maybe their weird slow courtship IS doing some good._

The revelation made her curious, though. Their dear old servant had passed along a few wedding night hints to Anna herself, which had _really_ paid off, but... "Did Gerda know much about... you know, _that?_ "

"Actually, she did." Her big sister had been blushing before, but _now_ she was a beautiful blonde beetroot. "Quite a _surprising_ amount. But we also talked about, well, relationships in general."

Geez, Gerda knew _everything_. Which made Anna wonder whether Gerda had actually _done_ everything, but following that train of thought meant thinking about Gerda in situations she didn't really want to picture Gerda in. Not that she wasn't probably a beautiful woman at some time way back when but just _no no no..._

"You know, if you ever want any more advice _like that_ , I know a thing or two nowadays," Anna remarked. "I mean, some things are universal, right?"

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Picked up a lot in the last two days, have you? And you always claimed you were a slow study."

 _Yikes._ Anna couldn't miss the undertone of suspicion. "Yes," she replied in the most even tone possible, trying her best to look affronted. "Learned _lots_ in the past two days."

 _Technically_ true, although she avoided mentioning that in the months since their engagement she and Kristoff had done... _more_ than Elsa would like, but _less_ than she probably feared. Once they had given him rooms in the castle, well, _yeah_... Anna knew every back room and hidden nook, after all. And that time in the barn, warming up after being caught in the rain, when Kristoff had wondered how far the freckles really went?

 _Hmm..._ Some rules were made to be bent.

Not that she could remotely face explaining that to _Elsa_ , of course. It would actually be easier with _Jani_ , who would joke but at least wouldn't judge and might even applaud. She was sure Elsa would understand... eventually, after a lot more _extremely uncomfortable talking_... but her big sister was such a parent sometimes. For totally understandable reasons which made it hard to complain about...

Fortunately, at this point Elsa noticed the clock, and was distracted. _Oh sweet God thank you._

"I need to get ready. I need to go to my room, get ready, and find Jani," Elsa murmured, looking distant. "We need to prepare for the announcement. Oh no, the rain..."

She turned to Anna and hugged her tightly. "Thanks for this. It's been good to just _talk_ for a while."

Anna squeezed back. "Same here. Love you, Elsa."

"Love you too, Anna."

. .

* * *

. .

"Wha-argh! Oh... Hello, Olaf."

"Hi Anders!"

Anders the fishmonger recovered from his surprise and gathered up the armful of herring he had dropped over the floor. A quick rinse and they'd be fine.

"You know, some folks would say that it's better to knock first."

Olaf shrugged. "Yeah, I'm hearing that a lot today. But the warehouse was open, and I'm kind of on the clock..."

"Oh?" Anders emptied the fish back into one of his new ice boxes. They had been _quite_ the useful addition to his stores, especially as it had been a warm summer...

"Yeah, so I'll cut right to it. You know that time we _didn't_ get conquered?"

"Sure... it was earlier in the week. With the Queen and that great dragon, swooping down in the nick of time." The fishmonger whistled sharply. "Won't forget _that_. God bless Her Majesty."

"Good, good, like your attitude," Olaf nodded vigorously. "But did you know, there's _more_ to the story...?"

. .

* * *

. .

 **Notes:**

Years after playing Dragon Age II, writing a character called Anders still makes me flinch.

Weird thing to fuss about I know, but I read somewhere that the novelisation of Olaf's Frozen Adventure describes a 'blacksmith' called Frederik casting a replacement clapper for the bell. Bell metal is high-tin bronze, and casting even a clapper is a precision job for an experienced _brownsmith_ , ideally a specialist bell founder. A _blacksmith_ works in iron and steel. Of course, I'm picking and choosing what I acknowledge from books etc. anyway. It just annoyed me- so now he works in red metals.


End file.
